Rope Design Buckle

An early silver belt buckle sets sections of rope design top and bottom, running perpendicular to a shaped and ribbed vertical surface, a composition of contrasting textures and directions. The twisted rope was one of Spratling's signature borders, and here it frames a ribbed central field. The buckle was made in two sizes; this is the smaller.

The piece belongs to the first design period, 1931 to 1946, when Spratling's Taxco workshop was setting the terms of the silver revival. The interplay of rope and rib gives a small object real surface variety.

Rope-edged work is among the most recognizable early Spratling motifs, and a buckle that combines it with ribbing in two opposing directions is a tidy demonstration of the workshop's textural play.