Aztec Arrow Pendant Earrings

Articulated earrings that Spratling called an articulated Aztec arrow pendant put movement and pre-Columbian reference into a single small object. The articulation lets the silver swing and shift with the wearer, while the arrow form ties the design to the ancient sources Spratling worked from.

He described his early designs as taking Aztec and Colonial motifs almost literally, ancient ornament serving as a point of departure for new work (Morrill, pdf p. 39), and the maker's own name for these earrings places them squarely in that vocabulary. Building hinged, articulated silver was a more demanding bench exercise than a rigid form.

Articulated Spratling earrings of a named Aztec design come to market only occasionally, and the moving construction marks them as more ambitious than his static earring forms.