Intricate floral delights and a 22-karat gold Viking longship replica that separates into 30 wearable pieces make the fair the top ticket for connoisseurs.
The jewelry section of the TEFAF Maastricht art fair is small, accounting for six contemporary high-jewelry artists and maybe a dozen dealers of vintage and antique pieces. But they do make their presence known, particularly this year, when the fair is expecting record-breaking crowds by the time it ends on March 14.
High-jewelry artist Anna Hu presented two brooches made with unusually shaped and uniquely colored natural pearls that she turned into floral pieces. The Dance of Dunhuang Brooch has two elongated pearls that create petals for a bejeweled tulip. A side of the pearls are paved with fancy-shaped diamonds, yellow and pink diamonds, pink and orange sapphires, and round brilliant diamonds. The stem and leaves are fashioned from green-colored titanium.
This is followed by the Enchanted Peony Brooch, which uses a large round natural blister pearl with patches of purple coloring. Like the tulip, it’s partially paved with multicolored gems and has leaves and stem made of green-colored titanium. “It’s a super rare natural purple pearl,” Hu said. “It’s the only one I’ve seen in 30 years. It’s fully natural and shaped exactly like the petal when we found it.”
Munich jewelry house Hemmerle also offered two floral pieces. Each displays its ability to work with aluminum and employs color gradation. One piece, completed days before the fair, is a pair of flower earrings, set with fancy-dark-brown-yellow and fancy-brownish-greenish-yellow diamonds, each weighing more than 6 carats. It’s finished with aluminum, green gold and white gold.
Simon Teakle, a dealer in vintage and antique jewelry and art objects, brought along a replica of a Viking longship made of handcrafted sheets of 22-karat gold and rock crystal. California goldsmith Loren Teetelli, who founded the firm Loren Nicole, is the designer. It comes apart into more than 30 pieces that can be worn as jewelry in various combinations.
German goldsmith Otto Jakob showcased a chain with the inner links paved with white, black and fancy-yellow diamonds. Through a technique he invented, the diamonds do not touch one another, thus preventing damage to the gems.
For something completely different, Didier Ltd., which specializes in dealing with jewels by artists from the second half of the 20th century, displayed an enormous rainbow-colored necklace called Verto from contemporary British artist John Moore. It appears more like an art object than a piece of jewelry, but it has a silicon core that works like a spine, making it extremely flexible in all directions so it can be worn.
Main image: Hemmerle flower earrings created from fancy dark brown-yellow and fancy brownish greenish-yellow diamonds, each over 6 carats, set in aluminum with green gold and white gold. (Hemmerle)
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