Silson Brooch of Aztec Motif Lyre

An Aztec-motif lyre rendered as a brooch, this is a Silson piece in silver plate, its design patented on November 19, 1940. Both Silson and Spratling produced the brooch in various sizes and degrees of ornamentation.

The lyre belongs to the Pre-Columbian repertoire Spratling drew on from his earliest work, motifs sawed out of sheet silver as a point of departure for new design (Morrill, p. 39). Silson, Inc. of New York began producing Spratling designs in 1941, the patents having been registered in 1940-41 (Morrill, p. 257), and the existence of multiple sizes and finishes shows how the licensed line was diversified for the American market.

The dated patent makes this brooch a precise marker of the moment Spratling's designs entered United States mass production.