Duck Head Necklace

Eight silver duck heads, separated by small hollow round beads, march along this necklace, animal figures rendered with the flattened simplicity that marks Spratling's pre-Columbian-derived work.

Morrill describes how his figural designs were "flattened out and stylized" so that the pattern of the form, rather than literal detail, carried the piece (Morrill, p. 73). The repeated duck head, alternating with handmade hollow beads, turns a single motif into rhythm across the necklace.

Those beads were made by the workshop's hand methods, silver rolled to gauge and worked into form (Morrill, p. 36). The necklace dates to the First Design Period, 1931 to 1946.