CHROMA SPADE: CERAMIC, DIAMOND, AND AQUAMARINE EAR CLIPS BY SIEGELSON, NEW YORK

Significance

The Ancient Greeks and Romans associated the luminous blue stone aquamarine with the sea. Pliny the Elder, a Roman Historian and scientist wrote in his Naturalis Historia the romantic idea, “The lovely Aquamarine, which seems to have come from some mermaid’s treasure house, in the depths of the summer sea, has charms not to be denied.” Large pieces of the stone were so rare that craftsman reserved the stone for Imperial portraits that were coveted and later set in rings. In 1936 Vogue featured jewelry with the stone, writing, “Aquamarines—limpid, glacial as the waters of a Northern lake—to play against a dress of white satin or the palest mauve mousseline.”

The blue stone worked beautifully set in layered geometric jewelry in the Art Deco period. These ear clips are inspired by the spare and masterful design work of Jean Fouquet who, in the 1920s, created some of his most important works with aquamarines set against a black frame of lacquer with diamond accents. Fouquet said, “A piece of jewelry must be composed of masses clearly visible from a distance.” He explained, “Objects glimpsed at top speed become distorted and we can only perceive them by their volume . . . Today we have become accustomed to reading quickly.” This is even more true today.

Designed as a pair of perfectly matched step-cut aquamarines framed in black ceramic and held in place by diamond-set spades these ear clips are a modern and wearable interpretation of Fouquet’s ideals. The spade, a leaf form, represents wisdom, acceptance, hard work, and good luck. These exquisite ear clips will be a treasured part of your collection.