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A flattened, horizontal form recalling a "river of life" bracelet, this brooch was produced under the Silson name in silver plate rather than solid silver. Silson, Inc. in New York manufactured Spratling designs in the early 1940s, after the Silson patents were registered in the United States, as Morrill's chronology records (Morrill, p. 257).
The Silson line put Spratling's design vocabulary into a more affordable plated medium aimed at the American market, distinct from the handwrought silver made in Taxco. The flowing, segmented horizontal form carries the look of the bracelet motif into a single brooch.
Silson-made pieces are collected as a distinct chapter of Spratling's reach into U.S. production, and a plated brooch in this idiom documents that licensing arrangement.
Brooch, ca. 1935-1945
Accession 1997.30. Official museum record Brooklyn Museum, Creative Commons-BY.
Verified against each institution's own collection records. All museum collections
Museum of Mexican Silver. “Silson River of Life Brooch.” Catalog no. MoMS-000938. https://museumofmexicansilver.com/pieces/spratling-2461
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William Spratling
Amethyst Swirl Brooch
First Design Period: 1931 - 1946
Silver
