3 - A LATE ART DECO SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND CONVERTIBLE SUITE

A LATE ART DECO SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND CONVERTIBLE SUITE CIRCA 1930-1950 Comprising two brooches and a pair of clip earrings of ribbon, bow and spray design, set with round brilliant and baguette-cut diamonds within calibré-cut sapphire borders. The brooches with c-clasps and safety catches, and with concealed hoops and tracks allowing them to be mounted onto the accompanying necklace frame; the earrings with omega clips. The 18ct white gold necklace frame approximately 35cm long, 14.13g, with push-in tongue clasp. Tests as platinum (earrings and brooches), 18ct white gold (necklace frame and chain) Unmarked Size/dimensions: 3.48cm x 2.20cm (earrings), 4.98cm x 3.98cm (smaller brooch), 6.35cm x 5.05cm (larger brooch) Gross weight: 95.58g The diamonds, approximately 20ct in total, are bright, secure and well matched, with some showing strong fluorescence. The sapphires are precisely cut and well matched, with colour zoning visible. The suite shows some signs of wear to the metal consistent with age but is otherwise offered in very good condition. Few ideas captured the spirit of 1930-1940s jewellery more completely than versatility. As the geometric precision of early Art Deco softened into the more sculptural, three-dimensional forms of the later 1930s and beyond, jewellers increasingly designed pieces that could be taken apart and reassembled to suit the occasion. Clips and brooches could be worn singly on a lapel, a neckline or a hat, paired at the shoulders of an evening gown, or mounted onto a discreet frame to form a necklace. One of the most celebrated examples of the idea was Van Cleef & Arpels’ Passe-Partout of 1938, but the principle was taken up across the finest Parisian, London and New York workshops. Versatility was partly a matter of fashion and partly one of economy. In the years following the Depression, a single important jewel that could serve as brooch, clip and necklace offered a clear advantage, and the bias-cut evening gowns of the period, with their low and backless necklines, created new places on the body to wear them. This suite comprises ribbon, bow and spray motifs set with brilliant and baguette-cut diamonds, outlined with calibré-cut sapphires precisely cut to follow every curve, all mounted in platinum. Concealed hoops and tracks to the reverse allow the two brooches to be worn individually, as a pair, or united on the accompanying necklace frame, while the matching earrings complete the ensemble.