Results of Sotheby's auction of personal jewellery of Suzanne Belperron
Sotheby's
announce results of the Suzanne
Belperron (1900-1983) sale in Geneva today with 100% sold
by lot and value of the sixty jewels from the personal collection
of the French jeweller. The total achieved at the sale was of CHF
3,224,950 ($3,459,307), more than tripling the pre-sale
expectation of CHF 902,000-1,365,000, proving that demand for
seminal pieces from Suzanne Belperron's work was intense with
international bidding driving prices well above estimates. A sale
that sells all lots at top prices is what is known as a 'white
glove' sale. Traditionally the successful auctioneer is handed a
white glove at the end of the sale as a mark of his
achievement.
Speaking after the sale, David Bennett, Chairman of
Sotheby's Jewellery Department in Europe and the Middle East and
Co-Chairman of Sotheby's Switzerland, commented: "It has been
a great pleasure to bring to sale the personal collection of
Suzanne Belperron, who is in my view the most talented and
influential female jeweller of the 20th century.
This collection included some of Suzanne Belperron's most
celebrated designs and very intimate items which illustrated her
unique style and creative virtuosity. We hope that the success of
today's sale will highlight the immense talent of this great artist
and her unique contribution to jewellery".
Although it has been nearly
three decades since her passing, Suzanne Belperron's jewellery
designs continue to inspire and surprise, easily making her one of
the most important jewellery designers of the twentieth
century.
Belperron lived and breathed for
beauty and her dedication to craftmanship, which she managed
gracefully, through an era of hostility and harassment. Having left
Rene Boivin in 1932 to become the chief designer at Bernard Herz
she finally got to be the famous creator she was always going to
become, entrusted with the whole of Bernard Herz's company when he
was arrested and incarcerated in the Drancy camp and then later, to
a German concentration camp in 1943. Suzanne, devastated by the
loss of her great friend and business partner carried on his legacy
and formed Herz-Belperron, the new trade name she would become so
acknowledged for. Sotheby's Geneva sale is made up of sixty
pieces which is an intriguing testament into Belperron's everyday
taste. Her pieces appeared in Vogue and Harper's Bazaar and before
the lenses of Cecil Beaton and George Hoyningen‐Huene and many
others; her admirers including Jean Cocteau, Nina Ricci, Jeanne
Lanvin, Gary Cooper and even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Yet what makes this sale so special
is the nature of the pieces: many of these are intensely personal
not only because some were worn regularly by Belperron herself, but
also because of the meaning many of them held for her. One of the
highlights of the sale is her own engagement ring given to her by
Jean Belperron in 1923; a Yin and Yang ring hammered in 22ct yellow
"virgin gold" (as she would have called it), it is a bold example
of her fascination with African craftsmanship, and is estimated at
$12,000 to $18,000. And there's more:
Lot 15 - A Chalcedony and Sapphire
ring, Circa 1935
This carved blue translucent
Chalcedony ring centered by an oval cabochon sapphire comfortably
set in a rub-over setting is what made Belperron stand out from her
piers, so simple and elegant and totally ahead of her time. This
material Chalcedony, is a very inexpensive and abundant material
but Belperron has made it into a chic and everlasting piece.
Chalcedony of the same hue and tone was used to make the famous
parure for the Duchess of Windsor in the 1930's which Sotheby's
sold in their celebrated Geneva sale in 1987.
Lot 59 - A rock crystal and diamond
Brooch, 1932-1955
Belperron often wore this brooch
and is seen on her in many photographs. The brooch is mounted in
white gold and platinum and has a festive feeling to it with swirls
and curls of transparent rock crystal design enhanced by old-cut
diamonds set in palm-like ferns to the centre and seven old-cut
diamonds in bezel-settings to the outside. Belperron's use of
material such as quartz in such a magnificent piece was very
avant-garde. The brooch carries one of her trusted Manufacturer's
maker's mark; Groene and Darde.
Lot 60 - A rock crystal and diamond
ring Circa 1935
What becomes immediately obvious
when looking at this ring is how very tiny Belperron's fingers
were. The marquise-cut diamond is set no differently than the
coloured stones she uses in other pieces, very simply set in a
rub-over setting, no claws are used which makes this piece and
others like it more about the design rather than setting the stone
on a pedestal. Diamonds are normally set so that the most light can
enter in and out of the stone to better enhance it but Belperron is
using the diamond to fit in with the over all design which is
magnificently bold but wonderfully understated due to the
transparent crystal and the white diamond and setting.
These are just a handful of
examples of both the lots included but also of the tremendous
quality of Suzanne Belperron's artistry and work, with other pieces
including pearls, platinum, white gold, and luscious diamonds. The
auction took place in Geneva at Sotheby's on May
14th 2012.
