BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:26cae75efd419f4372b68338da360d6f
DTSTAMP:20260404T062701Z
SUMMARY:suzanne-belperron - Date de vente : 08/12/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : Suzanne Belperron\n\nOf stylized foliate design\,
  set with pear-shaped sapphires and pear- and marquise-shaped diamonds\, w
 ith French assay marks and a partial workshop mark for Groëné et Darde\;
  1942-1955.\n\nAccompanied by Certificate of Authenticity no. 251007v by O
 livier Baroin dated October 7\, 2025 stating that Groëné et Darde manufa
 ctured the pieces between 1942 and 1955.\n\nPatricia Corbett\, Ward Landri
 gan and Nico Landrigan\, Jewelry by Suzanne Belperron\, London\, 2015\, p.
  198 for an illustration of these clip-brooches\n\nSuzanne Belperron’s f
 ondness for botanical motifs is not unusual for a jeweler\, but her interp
 retations of them were idiosyncratic\, modern and highly innovative. She 
 pared them down to their essential outlines or simplified them\, sometimes
  to the point of abstraction. A chalcedony and diamond clip-brooch depict
 ing a stylized bunch of grapes (lot 39) has the spare\, monumental quality
  of a piece of modern sculpture. She also created a number of jewels base
 d on leaves and branches. Lots 10 and 38\, composed of chalcedony and dia
 mond\, and gold and jade respectively\, are realistic\, albeit streamlined
 \, representations of plant motifs. Later in her career Belpoerron began 
 to incorporate a greater number of transparent\, faceted gemstones\, as se
 en in the pair of sapphire and diamond ‘Branche’ clip-brooches (lot 32
 ). Here\, solidity and volume are replaced with sinuous and flattened for
 ms\, the optical properties of the gemstones projecting a lightness that m
 arks a distinct progression of her style.\n\nBelperron had an intuitive se
 nse of color and was said to select specific gemstones from trays full of 
 candidates "because they winked at her." While many of the jewels in the c
 ollection employ and all-white palette\, several pieces incorporate unexpe
 cted yet harmonious color combinations. Belperron’s exploration of contr
 asting colors is realized beautifully in lot 17\, an exquisite bib necklac
 e set with a symphony of pinks and blues--morganites\, pink topazes and aq
 uamarines--highlighted by old-cut diamonds. The other bib necklace in the 
 collection\, and the one more readily identifiable as the work of Belperro
 n with its cabochon sapphires\, showcases subtle shifts in shade and tone 
 with in a single-color family (lot 11). She expanded this monochromatic ap
 proach in the brooches offered as lots 32 and 10 by trimming aquamarines a
 nd chalcedony with sapphires.\n\nForever Modern\n\nSuzanne Belperron\n\nSu
 zanne Belperron (1900-1983)\, née Vuillerme\, was born in the village of 
 Saint-Claude in the French Jura region to a family with ties to the area
 ’s lapidary and watchmaking industries. Shortly after her birth\, Suzan
 ne’s father took a position in Bésançon and it was here\, at the age o
 f 16\, she began her training in watchmaking and jewelry decoration at the
  Écoles Municipales de Musique et des Beaux-Arts. By this time her fathe
 r had passed away\, and it was therefore highly fortuitous that the school
  was not only free but open to female students. She showed a natural facil
 ity for design and draftsmanship\, and her surviving designs from this per
 iod exhibit hints of the sculptural and geometric qualities of her later w
 ork. In 1919 she moved to Paris where she was hired as a designer by the 
 jewelry firm René Boivin. Founded in 1893\, the company was a prominent 
 and successful house known for its innovative designs and cultured cliente
 le. Upon René Boivin’s death in 1917\, his widow Jeanne\, the sister o
 f famed fashion designer Paul Poiret\, took over as director and went on t
 o lead the house through some of its most influential and prosperous years
 .\n\nBelperron’s experience at the company was to have a profound impact
  upon her career. Madame Boivin served as the young designer’s mentor a
 s her style and position advanced within the firm\, elevating her to the r
 ole of co-director in 1924. The house’s tendency to eschew advertising 
 and its avoidance of adding signatures—instead relying upon word-of-mout
 h and loyalty to attract customers—are practices Belperron continued thr
 oughout her life. The Legacy of Elegance collection includes two jewels c
 reated during Suzanne Belperron’s years at René Boivin. Lots 15 and 16
 \, two carved rock crystal and diamond brooches made as early as 1928\, ar
 e masterful examples of Belperron’s work that incorporate the volume\, g
 eometry and translucency she would revisit throughout her career.\n\nIn 19
 32 Suzanne left René Boivin and began a collaboration with noted gemstone
  and pearl dealer Bernard Herz. Belperron became the sole designer and di
 rector for the newly formed Maison Herz. The two opened a private salon on
  Rue de Châteaudun that quickly began to attract discerning and prominent
  clients. Groëné & Darde\, a jewelry workshop owned by Maurice Groëné
  and Émile Darde with whom she had worked while at René Boivin\, became 
 her dedicated manufacturers. Belperron’s jewels became constant fixture
 s in the fashion press during the 1930s\, appearing frequently in publicat
 ions such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Sometimes the jewels were attri
 buted to Maison Herz\, but she was often credited as their designer\, an u
 nprecedented degree of recognition for a woman in the industry at that tim
 e. Always extremely stylish and traveling in sophisticated circles\, she 
 sometimes appeared in the contemporary fashion press alongside her creatio
 ns. Her high-profile clients included some of the most celebrated figures
  of the era\, including Daisy Fellowes\, Mona Bismarck\, the Duke and Duch
 ess of Windsor\, Ganna Walska\, Princess Agha Khan\, Adele Astaire and Dia
 na Vreeland. Despite her prominence\, she continued to decline to sign he
 r jewelry\, explaining\, “My style is my signature.”\n\nThe year 1941 
 brought tragedy to the firm when it was confiscated by the occupying Nazi 
 government due to Bernard Herz’s Jewish origins. Belperron purchased th
 e company herself\, with Herz’s assistance\, renaming it Suzanne Belperr
 on. In 1943\, to her horror\, Bernard Herz was deported to Auschwitz and 
 killed. When Jean\, Bernard’s son\, was released from captivity in 1946
 \, she offered to return the company to the Herz family. In appreciation 
 of her stewardship throughout the war and her indispensable talent\, Jean 
 offered her a partnership\, and the firm was renamed Herz-Belperron. It c
 ontinued to attract a loyal clientele in the post-war years\, adapting to 
 changing styles. In 1963 Belperron was made a knight of the Legion of Hon
 or for her contributions to French jewelry design and manufacturing. She 
 decided to retire in 1975\, though she continued to work on occasional pro
 jects until her death in 1983.\n\nIn the late 1980s\, the heirs to the Mai
 son Herz-Belperron sought a custodian who would preserve Belperron’s leg
 acy with the same integrity that characterized her career. They approached
  Ward Landrigan—then owner of Verdura and formerly head of Sotheby’s J
 ewelry Department in New York—who had gained international recognition f
 or his careful stewardship of the Verdura archives. In 1999\, Landrigan a
 cquired the rights to the Belperron brand as well as an extensive archive 
 of over 9\,300 gouache designs and tracings\, wax models\, molds and inven
 tory books. These materials not only document her remarkable career and ac
 t as a critical resource in authenticating her original creations\, but al
 so serve as the creative foundation for each jewel produced today. As the 
 steward of the House of Belperron\, Nico Landrigan works with collectors 
 and museums authenticating the original work of Suzanne Belperron. The com
 pany lives on in a beautiful salon located at 745 Fifth Avenue in New Yor
 k City\, modeled on Suzanne Belperron’s own Paris apartment.\n\nWhile ot
 her jewelry houses have produced jewels that fall in-and-out of fashion\, 
 the designs of Suzanne Belperron never look dated. For more than one hund
 red years\, her signature style has never lost its edge.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251208
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR