Butterfly Earrings

These butterfly earrings carry raised markings finished with an applied brass wash, so that the wing details read in a warm tone against the silver body. The two-metal effect, silver with a brass-toned overlay on the raised motif, gives the butterflies their definition and color without resorting to stones.

A pin was made in the same design, so the earrings belong to a coordinated set rather than standing alone, the butterfly motif carried across more than one form. The natural subject and the brass-washed detailing place the pair within Spratling's figural jewelry, where Mexican fauna was a recurring source.

The piece is recorded in the literature, appearing in Morrill and Berk's Mexican Silver: 20th Century Handwrought Jewelry and Metalwork, the standard reference for the field. A butterfly earring with applied brass detail, documented there and tied to a matching pin, sits within the recognized corpus of his figural designs.