Ebony Circle Earrings

Each earring sets an ebony circle against a silver circle, joined by wrapped silver wire and rimmed with small silver beads, a play of dark wood against bright metal in a single ornament. The pairing of the two discs is the design, contrast made into form.

Combining silver with the warmth and density of a wood like ebony was a device central to Spratling's design thinking, the approach Morrill traces to his affinity with Puiforcat's silver enriched by rosewood and similar materials (Morrill, p. 224). The beaded perimeters are a recurring Spratling finishing touch, drawn from the workshop's facility with small formed beads (Morrill, p. 36).

Ebony-and-silver earrings of this kind surface only occasionally, and the wrapped-wire join and beaded edges mark the construction as his.