Alexander CALDER (1898-1976)

Silver Vermicular Brooch, c. 1949

Unique large brooch hand-hammered from a length of silver wire to form a flattened vermicular design with spiral ends, and with a steel prong fastening.

Marks: Unsigned, but recorded in the Calder Foundation Archives under no. A27036

Dimensions: H. 8.9 cm; W. 8.3 cm

Provenance: Gift of the artist to the noted art collectors Henry and Esther Clifford of Radnor, PA. Henry Clifford was curator of paintings and sculptures at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, while Esther Clifford was a note scholar and philanthropist. 

Exhibited: Scultura Aurea. Gioielli d’Artista per un nuovo Rinascimento, Palazzo Ducale, Galleria Nazionale della Marche, Urbino, 30 May - 8 September 2019

Literature: Martine Newby Haspeslagh, Jewelry by Contemporary Painters and Sculptors 250:1967-2017 (Didier Ltd, London 2017), pp. 36-7, no. 25; P. Stroppiana, Scultura Aurea. Gioielli d’Artista per un nuovo Rinascimento. Art Jewellery for a New Renaissance (Gli Ori, Pistoia 2019), p. 64