Capricorn Zodiac Pendant

A zodiac subject rendered as a small silver medallion, this Capricorn pendant belongs to the astrological series that ran through Margot de Taxco's jewelry, where a single sign is treated as a self-contained pictorial disc meant to be worn close and read at a glance. The format condenses the shop's larger ambitions into pocket scale: a figurative motif set against a colored field, framed and hung, the whole thing balanced between ornament and emblem.

The design is built as a circular plaque with a raised silver rim and an integral loop for suspension. Within the frame, a figure is worked in relief against a deep blue ground, the silver drawing standing proud of the recessed color so that the sign reads clearly against its field. This pairing of enamel color with modeled sterling is the language Margot van Voorhies made her own after opening the Margot de Taxco shop in 1947, the enamel work for which she is chiefly known beginning in the mid 1950s.

Margot's pieces carry a numbered design system alongside the sterling and Made in Mexico marks, the eagle-16 assay stamp appearing on much of the workshop's output. Documented in Hougart's survey of Mexican silver marks, that catalogue of stamps grounds the attribution of small enameled works like this one to her Taxco taller.