Abalone Fish Earrings

Abalone and silver combine in these earrings of Spratling's popular fish design, the iridescent shell giving the fish its body and color against the silver. The fish was a favored Spratling subject, and abalone was among the materials he had worked with since his Alaskan commission, where abalone appeared alongside ivory, malachite, and jade (Morrill, p. 66).

The shimmer of abalone makes it a natural fit for a fish, the shifting blue-green of the shell standing in for scales and water. As a third-period design it belongs to the mature jewelry in which Spratling combined stone and shell with silver for both color and figural effect.

The earrings are recorded in Cederwall and Riney's Spratling Silver, its Centennial Edition, and Littleton's The Color of Silver, a full documentary footprint that reflects how popular the fish design became within his output.