Large Retro Style Aquamarine Pendant, c. 1930s

Hardly any film of the 1920s pushes the aesthetics of Art Deco to the limit as much as Fritz Lang’s legendary Metropolis: The skyscrapers, the fast-paced rhythms of the city and nightlife, and above all the futuristic machine world, shaped by technology and a forward-looking mindset, are truly unique. In the same year as Metropolis, 1927, Walther Ruttmann’s Berlin – Symphony of a Great City was released, which elevated the rhythmic pounding of machines to an art form. Not least, the era between the wars is now seen as the pinnacle of the “Machine Age” – for not only in film but also in art and jewellery, this era of mechanisation left its aesthetic mark. Futuristic and almost technical in appearance, the pendant presented here features a large aquamarine of approximately 40.00 ct, set in red and yellow gold. Sleek yellow gold arches reach upwards towards the aquamarine, while red gold bands intertwine with them in an alternating pattern. Platinum has been applied to the four corners of the gold setting to hold a total of twelve diamonds. The resulting design is abstract and original, yet as characteristic of its time as one could wish. According to its hallmark, the pendant was made in Germany. A very similar piece of jewellery from the 1930s is illustrated in Christianne Weber’s Jewellery of the 1920s and 1930s in Germany, Stuttgart 1990, p. 215, illustration 332.

Estimate:$16,744.46

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