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SUMMARY:suzanne-belperron - Date de vente : 08/12/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : Suzanne Belperron\n\nOf foliate design\, featurin
 g oval-shaped jade cabochons\, with French assay marks and partial worksho
 p marks for Groëné & Darde\; 1942-1955.\n\nAccompanied by Certificate of
  Authenticity No. 251007a by Olivier Baroin dated October 7\, 2025 stating
  that Groëné & Darde manufactured the piece between 1942 and 1955.\n\nSu
 zanne Belperron’s fondness for botanical motifs is not unusual for a jew
 eler\, but her interpretations of them were idiosyncratic\, modern and hig
 hly innovative. She pared them down to their essential outlines or simpli
 fied them\, sometimes to the point of abstraction. A chalcedony and diamo
 nd clip-brooch depicting 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 based on leaves and branches. Lots 10 and 38\, composed 
 of chalcedony and diamond\, and gold and jade respectively\, are realistic
 \, albeit streamlined\, representations of plant motifs. Later in her car
 eer Belpoerron began to incorporate a greater number of transparent\, face
 ted gemstones\, as seen in the pair of sapphire and diamond ‘Branche’ 
 clip-brooches (lot 32). Here\, solidity and volume are replaced with sinu
 ous and flattened forms\, the optical properties of the gemstones projecti
 ng a lightness that marks a distinct progression of her style.\n\nForever 
 Modern\n\nSuzanne Belperron\n\nSuzanne Belperron (1900-1983)\, née Vuille
 rme\, 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\, Suzanne’s father took a position in Bésançon
  and it was here\, at the age of 16\, she began her training in watchmakin
 g and jewelry decoration at the Écoles Municipales de Musique et des Beau
 x-Arts. By this time her father had passed away\, and it was therefore hi
 ghly fortuitous that the school was not only free but open to female stude
 nts. She showed a natural facility for design and draftsmanship\, and her 
 surviving designs from this period exhibit hints of the sculptural and geo
 metric 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 innovati
 ve designs and cultured clientele. Upon René Boivin’s death in 1917\, 
 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 most i
 nfluential and prosperous years.\n\nBelperron’s experience at the compan
 y was to have a profound impact upon her career. Madame Boivin served as 
 the young designer’s mentor as her style and position advanced within th
 e firm\, elevating her to the role of co-director in 1924. The house’s 
 tendency to eschew advertising and its avoidance of adding signatures—in
 stead relying upon word-of-mouth and loyalty to attract customers—are pr
 actices Belperron continued throughout her life. The Legacy of Elegance c
 ollection includes two jewels created during Suzanne Belperron’s years a
 t René Boivin. Lots 15 and 16\, two carved rock crystal and diamond broo
 ches made as early as 1928\, are masterful examples of Belperron’s work 
 that incorporate the volume\, geometry and translucency she would revisit 
 throughout her career.\n\nIn 1932 Suzanne left René Boivin and began a co
 llaboration with noted gemstone and pearl dealer Bernard Herz. Belperron 
 became the sole designer and director for the newly formed Maison Herz. Th
 e two opened a private salon on Rue de Châteaudun that quickly began to a
 ttract discerning and prominent clients. Groëné & Darde\, a jewelry wor
 kshop 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 fixtures in the fashion press during the 1930s\, a
 ppearing frequently in publications such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. 
 Sometimes the jewels were attributed to Maison Herz\, but she was often cr
 edited as their designer\, an unprecedented degree of recognition for a wo
 man in the industry at that time. Always extremely stylish and traveling 
 in sophisticated circles\, she sometimes appeared in the contemporary fash
 ion press alongside her creations. Her high-profile clients included some
  of the most celebrated figures of the era\, including Daisy Fellowes\, Mo
 na Bismarck\, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor\, Ganna Walska\, Princess Ag
 ha Khan\, Adele Astaire and Diana Vreeland. Despite her prominence\, she 
 continued to decline to sign her jewelry\, explaining\, “My style is my 
 signature.”\n\nThe year 1941 brought tragedy to the firm when it was con
 fiscated by the occupying Nazi government due to Bernard Herz’s Jewish o
 rigins. Belperron purchased the company herself\, with Herz’s assistanc
 e\, 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 to the
  Herz family. In appreciation of her stewardship throughout the war and h
 er indispensable talent\, Jean offered her a partnership\, and the firm wa
 s renamed Herz-Belperron. It continued to attract a loyal clientele in th
 e post-war years\, adapting to changing styles. In 1963 Belperron was mad
 e a knight of the Legion of Honor for her contributions to French jewelry 
 design and manufacturing. She decided to retire in 1975\, though she cont
 inued to work on occasional projects until her death in 1983.\n\nIn the la
 te 1980s\, the heirs to the Maison Herz-Belperron sought a custodian who w
 ould preserve Belperron’s legacy with the same integrity that characteri
 zed her career. They approached Ward Landrigan—then owner of Verdura and
  formerly head of Sotheby’s Jewelry Department in New York—who had gai
 ned international recognition for his careful stewardship of the Verdura a
 rchives. In 1999\, Landrigan acquired the rights to the Belperron brand a
 s well as an extensive archive of over 9\,300 gouache designs and tracings
 \, wax models\, molds and inventory books. These materials not only docume
 nt her remarkable career and act as a critical resource in authenticating 
 her original creations\, but also serve as the creative foundation for eac
 h jewel produced today. As the steward of the House of Belperron\, Nico La
 ndrigan works with collectors and museums authenticating the original wor
 k of Suzanne Belperron. The company lives on in a beautiful salon located 
 at 745 Fifth Avenue in New York City\, modeled on Suzanne Belperron’s o
 wn Paris apartment.\n\nWhile other jewelry houses have produced jewels tha
 t fall in-and-out of fashion\, the designs of Suzanne Belperron never look
  dated. For more than one hundred years\, her signature style has never l
 ost its edge.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251208
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