Jaguar Brooch

A silver jaguar facing left, its body inset with six amethysts, this brooch renders one of Mexico's most charged pre-Columbian animals in Spratling's figural idiom, the row of purple stones marking the creature's flank against the modeled silver. The same design was carried into a necklace pairing two jaguars facing each other, the kind of cross-object development typical of Spratling's strong motifs. It is recorded in the Centennial edition of "Spratling Silver" and Goddard's field guide.

The jaguar belongs to the pre-Columbian repertoire Spratling translated into wearable silver, where native and Aztec forms became the basis for his designs (Morrill, pdf p. 39). Amethyst was among the stones he returned to most often, here multiplied across the animal's body.

Made at the Taller de Las Delicias he founded in Taxco in 1931, the jaguar is a substantial example of his figural first-period work. Its progression from brooch to paired-jaguar necklace, and its place in two references, make it a documented and collectible design.