Catalog: Estate Jewelry: Silver: Mexican (257)

The "queen" of shadowbox designs, Victoria - otherwise Ana Maria Nunez de Brilanti - also excelled in the "married metals" technique. Her work is inspired, of the highest quality and today it is considered part of Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance design index. The adjustable sterling silver ring I am presenting here is out of her coveted "angel" parure. The form does not come up very often and I am happy to have come upon a beautifully aged example...

I never tire of the double-sided pendant necklaces Victor Jaimez created for Emma Melendez. The perfect blend of Aztec Revival and modernismo Mexicano, they are unfailingly characterized by craftsmanship of the highest level and meticulous finishing. At the same time dramatic and awe-inspiring, the pendant's two sides showcase several techniques as overlay, oxidation and mozaico inlay come together to create the image of Quetzalcoatl and the abstract figure of a Meso-american monkey...

One of the better known "less celebrated" maestros of Mexico's 20th c. Silver Renaissance, AEM (or, as I like to refer to him, AE Heart because of the heart-shaped M that hugs the signature's other two initials) lived and worked in Mexico City. Of good weight and exhibiting very good craftsmanship, AEM's jewelry often emulate pieces by his more famous contemporaries but he created many original designs himself as well...

One of my favorite "less celebrated" maestros whose jewelry, however, has been experiencing a constant rise in appreciation among collectors, A. Tobias was a contemporary of Matilde Poulat's and I believe he was probably also working in Mexico City. His creations caught my attention several years ago for their characteristic "Mexico City style" repoussage and their beautiful craftsmanship...

Bearing the signature of Sanborn’s, the legendary Mexico City department store’s over whose antiquities and fine arts division Fred Davis was a supervisor in the mid-1930s, this wide, exuberant cuff bracelet is a classic for the genre. Repousse cuffs of this style came to be closely associated with Sanborn’s and Maciel though they were made by other, anonymous and “less celebrated” makers as well...