Lot Essay
(US$210,000-275,000)
Details
AN IMPRESSIVE ART DECO PEARL AND DIAMOND NECKLACE
The front section suspending six rows of graduated pearls measuring from approximately 4.68 to 10.81 mm with scrolled pavé-set and baguette-cut diamond terminals to the three-row pearl backchain, circa 1930, 59.0 cm
With certificate 4264557 dated 26/4/1996 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the necklace is comprised of 434 natural pearls and 3 cultured pearls (the three cultured pearls have been replaced by natural pearls)
Compared in the Bible to the Kingdom of Heaven, the natural pearl is perhaps the most ancient and popular of gemstones, prized in both Eastern and Western culture.
Through antiquity, pearls were drilled and strung into matched strands of graduating sizes, but it was probably the rulers of India who took this practice to an extreme, wearing as many as 15 or 20 strands at a time.
This impressive necklace, with the front designed as a cascade of 6 strands of matched cream colour pearls up to 10.81 mm in size, recalls those splendid times. The diamond-encrusted clasps are a fitting foil to this important collection of pearls and were added during the 1920s when many noble Indian families had their treasures mounted in the West.
The front section suspending six rows of graduated pearls measuring from approximately 4.68 to 10.81 mm with scrolled pavé-set and baguette-cut diamond terminals to the three-row pearl backchain, circa 1930, 59.0 cm
With certificate 4264557 dated 26/4/1996 from the Gemological Institute of America stating that the necklace is comprised of 434 natural pearls and 3 cultured pearls (the three cultured pearls have been replaced by natural pearls)
Compared in the Bible to the Kingdom of Heaven, the natural pearl is perhaps the most ancient and popular of gemstones, prized in both Eastern and Western culture.
Through antiquity, pearls were drilled and strung into matched strands of graduating sizes, but it was probably the rulers of India who took this practice to an extreme, wearing as many as 15 or 20 strands at a time.
This impressive necklace, with the front designed as a cascade of 6 strands of matched cream colour pearls up to 10.81 mm in size, recalls those splendid times. The diamond-encrusted clasps are a fitting foil to this important collection of pearls and were added during the 1920s when many noble Indian families had their treasures mounted in the West.