David Webb Contemporary Diamond Ruby Brooch

This compelling double pinstem David Webb Contemporary Diamond Ruby Brooch, made in the 21st century, is crafted in 18K white yellow gold and set with white diamonds and rubies. The brooch features fascinating fern-like forms waving gently in four directions, attached to a textured naturalistic stem. The round brilliant-cut diamonds adorn the four curving pointed spines of each frond and mix with round rubies in the center, occasionally punctuating the beautiful bouquet of gemstones, each elevated and held with four prongs.

Although made in the 21st century, the textured and sculpted look of the gold, as well as the treatment of the gemstones harkens back to Modern gold brooches of the 1950s. During this affluent decade post-war, motifs popular in the 1940s such as ribbons, bows, flowers, and leaves, were being rendered in the new more textural style. Forms became more curvilinear, influenced by Abstraction and Surrealism in the art, as these otherworldly forms in this brooch. Motifs exploring all forms of flora and fauna were more popular than ever and brooches exemplified the trend.

American jeweler, David Webb (1925-1975) opened his eponymous shop in 1948, at the age of 23, in New York City. By the 1950s and 1960s, movie stars and fashion icons including Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy and Diana Vreeland could be seen wearing his highly original, modern jewelry fashioned in hammered gold, black enamel, and colorful gemstones. Webb is best known for distinctive carved and enameled animal bracelets, dramatic gold necklaces, colorful sautoirs, and Maltese cross brooches.

Webb was also known as the “Houdini of gold”. His ambition was to make the new look old, so he analyzed the composition of gold and came up with alloys that had the patina of ancient gold. Part of his research included weekly trips to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he studied gold objects from the Incas of Mexico, from various tribes of Turkey and Syria, as well as various Egyptian artifacts. As Webb once said, "I had a tremendous feeling of art in me. I wanted to be an archaeologist, a ceramicist, or a jeweler. Jewelry won out."

Measures approx. 2.8: by 2.5". Approx. 35.17 grams overall weight; 18k yellow gold; circa 21st Century.

SKU :P1047
Category :PINS
Metal :18KYG

David Webb

18K Yellow Gold

Shipping & Returns