Cholulteca Conch Brooch

A cross-section of a Cholulteca conch rendered in silver, the spiral chambers of the shell flattened into a brooch. The motif is pure Spratling pre-Columbian translation, a natural form drawn from Mexico's material world and abstracted into clean silver. This smaller, less sharply defined example was probably made a year or two earlier than a larger variation sharing the same catalog design number, and it carries a two-prong clasp though the design was also made with a standard brooch backing. It is recorded across several references, including "Reflections: Pre-Columbian Inspiration in Mexican Silver Design" and the Centennial edition of "Spratling Silver."

The conch motif was carried beyond the brooch into earrings and applied to hollowware, the kind of cross-object reuse that was characteristic of how Spratling developed a strong form.

Translating natural and pre-Columbian forms into silver was the core of his design language; he described those early sources as a point of departure for the new work (Morrill, pdf p. 39).

The ability to place this as the earlier, smaller variant, supported by its place in several references, makes it a well-documented example for collectors tracking Spratling's conch design. The design has been reissued.