Flat Animal Bell

A single flat animal figure stands on top of this small silver bell, a touch of whimsy on a functional object.

The flattened, one-dimensional treatment of the animal follows a habit Morrill observes in Spratling's pre-Columbian-derived figures, where forms were "flattened out and stylized" so the pattern of the shape mattered more than literal representation (Morrill, p. 73). On a small bell the device reads as a quiet visual joke.

The bell dates to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946, when the workshop's range ran well beyond jewelry into small household objects in silver.