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Museum of Mexican Silver

A scholarly catalog of Mexican modernist silver. Object records are cited, attribution-graded, and open to correction.

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Home/Browse/Amethyst Swirl Brooch
William Spratling Amethyst Swirl Brooch
William Spratling

Amethyst Swirl Brooch

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Object record

Catalogue no.
MoMS-000432
Form
Brooch
Date
First Design Period: 1931 - 1946
Materials
Silver, Amethyst
Dimensions
3 1/2"

Curatorial note

A swirl of silver set with an amethyst gives this brooch its focal stone, and the same design was also made with a copper disc and in other materials, showing how a single form was reworked across the workshop's palette. It is recorded in Phyllis M. Goddard's Spratling Silver field guide and dates to the first design period.

Silver earrings of a similar swirl design were also produced, an instance of the workshop carrying one motif across brooch and earring forms. The swirl is part of Spratling's vocabulary of worked silver, with the amethyst as the warm accent at its center.

Documented first-period pins that exist in several material variants are collected as examples of how the workshop treated a strong form as a template, and come to market only occasionally.

References

  1. Spratling Silver: A Field Guide - Recognizing a William Spratling Treasure, Phyllis M. Goddard (Keenan Tyler Paine), 2003

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How to cite this record

Museum of Mexican Silver. “Amethyst Swirl Brooch.” Catalog no. MoMS-000432. https://museumofmexicansilver.com/pieces/spratling-2508

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