Silson Sliver Plated Quetzecoatl Brooch

A Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of Mesoamerican belief, rendered as a silver-plated brooch, this is a Silson piece, the American costume house whose designs leaned heavily on the Taxco idiom. The serpent subject sits squarely in the Pre-Columbian vocabulary Spratling drew on and which Silson borrowed in turn, a stylized pattern of the form rather than a literal creature, much as Spratling himself flattened the serpent into design (Morrill, p. 73).

Worked in silver plate rather than solid silver, the brooch is a costume interpretation of a Taxco-school motif, and it documents how widely the feathered-serpent image traveled into American costume jewelry.

With no recorded reference, the brooch is valued as a Silson costume piece, with condition the practical consideration.