Malachite Pyramid Earrings

Each earring terminates at both ends in a pyramid-shaped malachite stone set at right angles to a shaped silver bar, an arrangement that gives a simple form an unexpected three-dimensional twist. They date to the first design period of the Taller de las Delicias, the workshop Spratling founded in 1931.

The right-angle setting of the green stone against the silver bar is the kind of geometric play Spratling favored, using native Mexican malachite as the focal element rather than as a passive accent. The pyramid cut gives the stones a sculptural presence at each terminal.

First-period earrings combining worked silver with native stone are collected as examples of Spratling's material vocabulary, and a design of this geometry comes to market only occasionally.