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Tiffany & Co. Lapis and Diamond Blossom Clip Brooch
$11,500
Created in 1968-1969, this Tiffany & Co. brooch is composed of bi-color 18K gold, lapis, and diamonds. It is designed as blue blossom or berry set with lapis lazuli cabochons, surmounted with a diamond floret and two gold florets accented by circular-cut sapphires. This amusing little jewel bursts with alluring color and sparkling highlights.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Item #: BO-21091
Artist: Tiffany & Co.
Country: Italy
Circa: 1968-1969
Dimensions: 1.25" length x 1.125" width
Materials: Cabochon lapis lazuli; 10 round brilliant-cut diamonds (approximate total weight 0.73 carat); 2 round sapphires; Bi-color 18K Gold
Signed: TIFFANY & CO. 18Kt ITALY
Literature: A clip brooch of this design appears in the Tiffany & Co. Blue Book of 1968-1969, p. 46.
Lapis luzuli is the magical ingredient in ultramarine, an intense blue pigment reserved for the most important paintings of the Renaissance. A rare mineral, it has been imported with great effort from its single source in Afghanistan since the Bronze Age, before humans had domesticated horses and camels. It figured prominently in the religious practices of the Sumerians, who recorded that, according to their religion, having a piece of lapis was akin to possessing a piece of the divine. Other sources of lapis were discovered later, but they lack the coloration and distinctive inclusions of Afghan lapis.