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SUMMARY:suzanne-belperron - Date de vente : 08/12/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : Suzanne Belperron\n\nDesigned as a bunch of abalo
 ne grapes with carved chalcedony leaves\, with partial French assay marks 
 and workshop mark for Société Groëné et Darde\; 1942-1955.\n\nAccompan
 ied by Certificate of Authenticity no. 251007b by Olivier Baroin dated Oct
 ober 7\, 2025 stating that Groëné et Darde manufactured the piece betwee
 n 1942 and 1955.\n\nSylvie Raulet and Olivier Baroin\, Suzanne Belperron\
 , Woodbridge\, 2011\, p. 252 for this brooch.\n\nPatricia Corbett\, Ward 
 Landrigan and Nico Landrigan\, Jewelry by Suzanne Belperron\, London\, 2
 015\, p. 104 for this brooch illustrated on its original design drawing.\n
 \nSuzanne Belperron’s fondness for botanical motifs is not unusual for a
  jeweler\, but her interpretations of them were idiosyncratic\, modern and
  highly innovative. She pared them down to their essential outlines or si
 mplified them\, sometimes to the point of abstraction. A chalcedony and d
 iamond clip-brooch depicting a stylized bunch of grapes (lot 39) has the s
 pare\, monumental quality of a piece of modern sculpture. She also create
 d a number of jewels based on leaves and branches. Lots 10 and 38\, compo
 sed of chalcedony and diamond\, and gold and jade respectively\, are reali
 stic\, albeit streamlined\, representations of plant motifs. Later in her
  career Belpoerron began to incorporate a greater number of transparent\, 
 faceted gemstones\, as seen in the pair of sapphire and diamond ‘Branche
 ’ clip-brooches (lot 32). Here\, solidity and volume are replaced with 
 sinuous and flattened forms\, the optical properties of the gemstones proj
 ecting a lightness that marks a distinct progression of her style.\n\nFore
 ver Modern\n\nSuzanne Belperron\n\nSuzanne Belperron (1900-1983)\, née Vu
 illerme\, was born in the village of Saint-Claude in the French Jura regio
 n to a family with ties to the area’s lapidary and watchmaking industrie
 s. Shortly after her birth\, Suzanne’s father took a position in Bésan
 çon and it was here\, at the age of 16\, she began her training in watchm
 aking and jewelry decoration at the Écoles Municipales de Musique et des 
 Beaux-Arts. By this time her father had passed away\, and it was therefor
 e highly fortuitous that the school was not only free but open to female s
 tudents. She showed a natural facility for design and draftsmanship\, and 
 her surviving designs from this period exhibit hints of the sculptural and
  geometric qualities of her later work. 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 inno
 vative designs and cultured clientele. Upon René Boivin’s death in 191
 7\, his widow Jeanne\, the sister of famed fashion designer Paul Poiret\, 
 took over as director and went on to lead the house through some of its mo
 st influential and prosperous years.\n\nBelperron’s experience at the co
 mpany was to have a profound impact upon her career. Madame Boivin served
  as the young designer’s mentor as her style and position advanced withi
 n the firm\, elevating her to the role of co-director in 1924. The house
 ’s tendency to eschew advertising and its avoidance of adding signatures
 —instead relying upon word-of-mouth and loyalty to attract customers—a
 re practices Belperron continued throughout her life. The Legacy of Elega
 nce collection includes two jewels created during Suzanne Belperron’s ye
 ars at René Boivin. Lots 15 and 16\, two carved rock crystal and diamond
  brooches made as early as 1928\, are masterful examples of Belperron’s 
 work that incorporate the volume\, geometry and translucency she would rev
 isit throughout her career.\n\nIn 1932 Suzanne left René Boivin and began
  a collaboration with noted gemstone and pearl dealer Bernard Herz. Belpe
 rron became the sole designer and director for the newly formed Maison Her
 z. The two opened a private salon on Rue de Châteaudun that quickly began
  to attract discerning and prominent clients. Groëné & Darde\, a jewelr
 y workshop owned by Maurice Groëné and Émile Darde with whom she had wo
 rked while at René Boivin\, became her dedicated manufacturers. Belperro
 n’s jewels became constant fixtures in the fashion press during the 1930
 s\, appearing frequently in publications such as Vogue and Harper’s Baza
 ar. Sometimes the jewels were attributed to Maison Herz\, but she was oft
 en credited as their designer\, an unprecedented degree of recognition for
  a woman in the industry at that time. Always extremely stylish and trave
 ling in sophisticated circles\, she sometimes appeared in the contemporary
  fashion press alongside her creations. Her high-profile clients included
  some of the most celebrated figures of the era\, including Daisy Fellowes
 \, Mona Bismarck\, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor\, Ganna Walska\, Prince
 ss Agha Khan\, Adele Astaire and Diana Vreeland. Despite her prominence\,
  she continued to decline to sign her jewelry\, explaining\, “My style i
 s my signature.”\n\nThe year 1941 brought tragedy to the firm when it wa
 s confiscated by the occupying Nazi government due to Bernard Herz’s Jew
 ish origins. Belperron purchased the company herself\, with Herz’s assi
 stance\, renaming it Suzanne Belperron. 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 t
 o the Herz family. In appreciation of her stewardship throughout the war 
 and her indispensable talent\, Jean offered her a partnership\, and the fi
 rm was renamed Herz-Belperron. It continued to attract a loyal clientele 
 in the post-war years\, adapting to changing styles. In 1963 Belperron wa
 s made a knight of the Legion of Honor for her contributions to French jew
 elry design and manufacturing. She decided to retire in 1975\, though she
  continued to work on occasional projects until her death in 1983.\n\nIn t
 he late 1980s\, the heirs to the Maison Herz-Belperron sought a custodian 
 who would preserve Belperron’s legacy with the same integrity that chara
 cterized her career. They approached Ward Landrigan—then owner of Verdur
 a and formerly head of Sotheby’s Jewelry Department in New York—who ha
 d gained international recognition for his careful stewardship of the Verd
 ura archives. In 1999\, Landrigan acquired the rights to the Belperron br
 and as well as an extensive archive of over 9\,300 gouache designs and tra
 cings\, wax models\, molds and inventory books. These materials not only d
 ocument her remarkable career and act as a critical resource in authentica
 ting her original creations\, but also serve as the creative foundation fo
 r each jewel produced today. As the steward of the House of Belperron\, Ni
 co Landrigan works with collectors and museums authenticating the origina
 l work of Suzanne Belperron. The company lives on in a beautiful salon loc
 ated at 745 Fifth Avenue in New York City\, modeled on Suzanne Belperron
 ’s own Paris apartment.\n\nWhile other jewelry houses have produced jewe
 ls that fall in-and-out of fashion\, the designs of Suzanne Belperron neve
 r look dated. For more than one hundred years\, her signature style has n
 ever lost its edge.
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