Swirl Brooch Inset with Jade

A swirling silver form cradling a single piece of jade, this brooch treats the stone as the still center of a piece built on movement. The design was made interchangeably with a variety of stones or with plain circular metal discs, a flexibility that let one form serve many tastes.

Spratling's pairing of silver with native and semi-precious materials, jade among them, runs through his work; Morrill records jade turning up even in his sculptural objects (Morrill, Mexican Silver, 1994, p. 66). The swirl gives the brooch a sense of the playfulness and sophistication Morrill identifies as characteristic of his designs (Morrill, p. 73).

Pins of this adaptable type, offered in shifting stone settings, come to market only occasionally.