Azur Malachite Bow Earrings

Oval azur-malachite stones set into a silver bow give these earrings their character, the blue-green Mexican stone carried as the focal element against the metal. They date to the first design period of the Taller de las Delicias, the workshop Spratling founded in 1931.

The bow is a soft, decorative form here disciplined by the geometry of the oval stones, and the use of native azur-malachite is characteristic of Spratling's early jewelry, which gave local materials the leading role rather than treating them as accents.

First-period earrings combining silver with Mexican stone are collected as examples of that material practice, and a bow design of this kind comes to market only occasionally.