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Fabulous Fish Brooches

16/03/2022 4001 0 1

Fish jewellery began being produced around the 1920’s by American jewellers in response to the growing popularity of the sport of fishing. Several presidents including Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Trueman were fans of the sport as were stars of the day such as Clarke Gable, Bette Davis and Ginger Rogers.

Often fish brooches were made as a memento of a specific trip as high society anglers enjoyed fishing trips to luxury camps in California, Canada, Florida and South America. Jewellers such as Tiffany's made fish brooches in platinum and diamonds. Sapphires were cut in a special manner in order to fit into the fins or body of the fish.

Above: Tiffany Fish Brooches, 1950's (designed by Jean Schlumberger)

Jean Schlumberger's “Night of the Iguana” Brooch

The French jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger was hired by couturier Elsa Schiaparelli in 1938 to create costume jewellery. Among the pieces he created for Schiaperelli were flying fish earrings. After the end of World War 11 Schlumberger moved to New York and opened his own precious jewellery business.

He took inspiration for the beautiful fish brooches he made from aquatic themed books. One of his famous fish themed brooches was given to Elizabeth Taylor as a gift from Richard Burton as a reminder of good times they had spent in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico when he had been filming “The Night of The Iguana.” The brooch had diamond scales with waving fins and sculptural gold netting. Emerald lips and sapphire eyes adorned the head which was intended to be worn facing downwards.

After Elizabeth Taylor acquired the brooch it became known as “The Night of the Iguana brooch.” Jean Schlumberger went on to design beautiful artistic and whimsical jewellery for Tiffanys from 1956 until the late 1970's. His amazing designs were often inspired by sea creatures and natural forms.

Star Fish Brooches

Starfish have featured in the brooch designs of some of the most creative jewellery designers of the twentieth century. Designers such as Elsa Peretti, Hemmerle, Rene Boivin, and the Surrealist artist Salvado starfish brooch designs. After Rene Boivin died in 1917 his wife Madame Boivin became the chief executive. She hired designers to carry out her vision which involved using precious gems in an artistic, not ostentatious manner.

Juliette Moutard worked at Boivin from 1934 to 1970 and produced beautiful animal jewellery during her time there, including the 1937 Starfish Brooch which became an iconic design for the firm.The brooch was made in gold and covered in pave set amethysts and 71 cabochon rubies. The limbs were made in five parts so that the brooch could be fully articulated. It is thought that only four of these ruby Boivin starfishes were made at that time.

Above: Rene Boivin Starfish Brooch

Salvador Dali’s Etoile De Mer Starfish Brooch

In 1949 The surrealist artist Salvador Dali signed a contract with New York based jewellery manufacture Carlos Alemany to create his own jewellery collection. His ethos was that the design and craftsmanship of the pieces should be valued more than the material worth of the gemstones. One of his most famous brooches the “Etoile De Mer” brooch was owned by the philanthropist Rebekah Harkness.

Each of the long arms of the starfish is divided by a line of gold with two rows of diamonds and of rubies to each side of the central line. Gold branches with emerald leaves sprout from the each side of the large central pearl area. The design is made more surreal by a pair of gem set butterflies which could be attached to the arms of the starfish.

Above: Dali Etoile De Mer Brooch and design work drawing

Hermmerle Starfish Brooch

In 1994 The German jewellery firm Hemmerle run by Steven Hemmerle and his wife Sylveli produced a creative starfish brooch with experimental elements. The inspiration behind the brooch was family trips to the island of Sardinia. In order to achieve their desired colour they plated gold with the far less valuable copper material. Sparkling diamonds were added to the arms of the starfish amounting to a total of 48 carats of diamonds.

The large diamond at the centre of the starfish was a 8.73 carat highly graded natural fancy brown- yellow diamond .At the time this colour of diamond was not greatly admired, but the diamond was highly graded and chosen to match the copper at the centre of the starfish.

Above: Hemmerle gold, copper, and diamond starfish brooch

Verdura Fish Brooches

Fulco Di Verdura was born a duke in 1899, and in 1926 he went to work for Coco Chanel in Paris. They travelled together to Germany and Italy to see the Renaissance jewellery at the Treasury of the Munich Residence in Germany and the Byzantine mosaics in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna , Italy.

These trips provided inspiration for him when designing for Coco Chanel’s personal jewellery collection. After working in New York and Los Angeles for a few years he opened his own boutique in New York in 1939. His jewellery collection included a series of gem set fish that took inspiration from Renaissance dolphins and fantasy fish.

Above: Verdura gold and gemstone fish and whale brooches

As his hobby was painting miniatures, each of the brooch designs was also illustrated in ink and gouache. The resulting fish brooches often had a painterly quality that reflected the original painted designs.

Boucheron Enamel Fish Brooch

Boucheron is the oldest high end jewellery boutique in the Place Vendome in Paris. It was founded by Frederic Boucheron, a gem expert and master jeweller in 1858. Since its origins it has been known for a luxury, avant gard style and has received much acclaim for pushing the boundaries of innovative design to create unique jewellery pieces.

Boucheron jewels have been exhibited at various important exhibitions over the years. Design inspiration came from animals, nature, and the earth. The Boucheron fish brooch seen below dates from the 1950’s and is made in 18 karat gold, with red enamel to the scales and turquoise cabochon eye.

Above: Boucheron gold,red enamel, and turquoise fish brooch

Marcel Boucher Rock Fish Brooch

Marcel Boucher was a French jeweller who was born in 1898. Around the start of the 1920’s he moved to New York where he worked as an apprentice under Pierre Cartier. In 1937 he opened his started his own jewellery company called Marcel Boucher and Cie.

The very collectible costume brooch below dates from 1941 and is called the Rock Fish Brooch. It has a gold plated and rhodium plated base metal with a large faux sapphire crystal in the mouth and small sapphire crystal eyes.

Above: Marcel Boucher rock fish costume brooch

David Webb’s Fish Jewels

American jewellery designer David Webb had a love of animals that was evident in his jewellery designs. He began his own jewellery business in 1948 and his initial collections were very well received. The artistic style of his animal jewellery in particular received much acclaim.

In the 1960’s he produced fish brooches made with carved gemstones that displayed Renaissance design symbols. The David Webb 1967 coral fish desk object is one of his renowned objects d’art and is featured in the David Webb book. It has a natural pearl, gold and diamond encrusted body sitting on a carved coral base.

Above: Coral fish desk object by David Webb

Steven Webster's Japanese Fighting Fish Brooch

Steven Webster, an English jewellery designer, was born in Gravesend, Kent. He studied at the Medway College of Design, and went on to work for several jewellery designers before launching his own jewellery collection in 1989. Sea animals were a focus of his 2009 collection named Jules Verne. Some of the most extravagant pieces are the Japanese fighting fish brooches and bracelets.

The electric blue coloured brooches are made in titanium with the colour being created through an annodisation process. The body and the wings are enhanced with graduated light to dark blue sapphires and and diamonds. A marquise shaped Santa Maria aquamarine is at the centre of the brooch.