The rock crystal, emerald, diamond and black enamel clip is by Suzanne Belperron: a drawing of the design survives dated 1934. Pitched at €25,000-35,000 and awarded the front cover of the catalogue, it took €110,000 (£100,000).
The striking rock crystal, diamond and black enamel brooch is signed by another titan of French Art Deco jewellery design, Raymond Templier (1891-1968). Templier, an exhibitor at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, worked in a minimal, geometric style that looked towards Cubism and the imagery of industrial production.
In 1930 he commented in the Goldsmiths’ Journal: “As I walk in the streets I see ideas for jewellery everywhere, the wheels, the cars, the machinery of today.”
This brooch was given as a wedding gift to the owner’s relative by the French couturier Lucien Lelong (1889-1958) in 1929. It sold at €35,000 (31,000) (estimate €6000-8000).
