Feathered Eagle Pendant Necklace

A pendant in the form of a feathered eagle, this necklace carries one of Spratling's emblematic Mexican motifs as its centerpiece. It dates to the first design period, 1931 to 1946, and is recorded in Phyllis Goddard's Spratling Silver field guide.

The eagle belongs to the Pre-Columbian and Mexican imagery Spratling worked from his earliest years, motifs he described turning into ornaments sawed and worked from silver (Morrill, p. 39). As a pendant, the feathered eagle becomes the single focal element of the necklace.

A figural early piece, it shows the workshop translating a national symbol into wearable silver.