Certification
Belperron Certificate of Authenticity B56604052018 dated April 5, 2018, by Edward J. Landrigan of Verdura stating that the “demi-marguerite” dress clip was made in Paris between 1945 and 1955 by the company Jean Herz-Suzanne Belperron from a design by Suzanne Belperron.
Biography
Along with Chanel and Schiaparelli, Suzanne Belperron was one of the innovators of modern dress and jewelry. Belperron began her career in 1919 designing for René Boivin. Her 1933 partnership with Bernard Herz (and later his son Jean) allowed her to develop her bold, imaginative style mixing hardstones, such as chalcedony and rock crystal, with precious stones, such as diamonds and sapphires. The elegant beauty became a favorite jeweler to the fashionable elite including Diana Vreeland, Colette, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor. Belperron retired in 1974 and continued consulting on jewelry designs until her death in 1983.
Significance
With her iconic avant-garde style, Suzanne Belperron influenced the trajectory of modern jewelry. While strong geometry led the aesthetic for the majority of pieces produced at this time, Belperron created jewels that diverged from the expected and were fluid and graceful to the eye and touch while being bold in form and playful in their use of materials. Equally interested in both precious and semi-precious stones, Belperron utilized unusual materials such as topaz, chalcedony, citrine, quartz and rock crystal. On the forefront of modernity, her jewels reflected the touch of an artist who used a variety of materials, shapes, and color combinations to achieve her distinctive style.
Belperron’s work explored bold rounded forms informed the natural world and by her research into the motifs of Egypt, India, Africa, and the Far East. This brooch, the archetypal flower form of a daisy, or marguerite, takes the common flower and creates a work of art. It would have appealed to Belperron that the daisy is found in Ancient Egyptian architectural motifs. She interpreted the marguerite in a demi-lune or half circle that turns the typically symmetrical flower into a dynamic clip form. Belperron worked with expert stonecutter and jeweler Adrien Louart, who carved the chalcedony leaves, which she then accented with marquise-cut diamonds echoing the petal form.
By the 1930s the clip brooch was an essential accessory. In 1934, a Belperron demi-lune brooch appeared on the cover of Vogue. In August 1936, Vogue magazine stated, “there are an infinite number of ways of using clips brooches. One or two could be placed diagonally along a front or rear neckline. Several could be gathered at the front of the waist. Two, placed upside down, could support a shoulder strap. One on its own could hold a handkerchief in place.” This magnificent Art Moderne demi-marguerite brooch by Suzanne Belperron is iconic of this exceptional artist and eminently wearable today.
