Amethyst Bracelet with Braid and Diamond-Shaped Hinges

This amethyst bracelet shows the architectural side of Héctor Aguilar's jewelry, marrying a braided silver passage to diamond-shaped hinges in a single articulated band. Aguilar's Taller Borda was among the workshops of the Mexican silver revival, and pieces like this one show how he treated a bracelet as a problem of engineering as much as ornament.

The band is executed in 990 silver, a notably high-purity alloy, and set with amethyst quartz. The braid lends the silver a woven, rope-like rhythm, while the diamond-shaped hinges allow the bracelet to flex and follow the wrist. The pairing of dense, near-pure silver with the cool violet of amethyst is a restrained color choice that lets construction carry the design.

Recorded in Penny C. Morrill's Silver Masters of Mexico: Héctor Aguilar and the Taller Borda (1996) as plate I-118, the bracelet carries an Aguilar hallmark from the (G) period. It belongs to the documented run of Taller Borda jewelry and stands as a clear example of Aguilar's hinge-and-link craftsmanship.