Ebony Arrow Buckle

An ebony arrow caught within a silver circular frame, this buckle reduces its design to a single clean opposition: the dark wooden shaft of the arrow read against the ring of bright silver around it. From Spratling's later years, it is a study in the silver-and-ebony contrast that runs through his holloware of the period, here at the scale of a wearable fitting.

From the Third Design Period, 1951 to 1967, the buckle pairs the geometry of the circle with the directional thrust of the arrow, a spare, modernist gesture. It is recorded in Morrill's Maestros de Plata.

Worked in silver and ebony, the piece rests on its documented design, the integrity of the ebony arrow within the frame, and a period mark.