Description
What a fabulously vibrant, hand-crafted Arts and Crafts sautoir necklace, c1920s and firmly attributed to Mary Thew, of the Glasgow Girls. Very much in the same style as the sautoirs created by Dorrie Nossiter and Sibyl Dunlop, the leaves and knots on the silver cap over the large Swiss Lapis stone are very distinctive and very much indicate Mary Thew. It is a beautifully-worked and impressive piece with the vibrant cobalt blue we would hope to see in Swiss Lapis. In superb order too…. a joy of a sautoir!
I have seen one or two smaller pieces than this in the past with the same knots and leaves and they were attributed to Dorrie Nossiter. Several elements are just not Dorrie to me, however, – including the hand-wrought leaves and the stylistic knots, decorated with a small silver ball in their centres, although they are very typical motifs in Thew’s work. This is a hand-wrought antique sautoir necklace, which has so obviously had many hours and much energy spent on her.
The silver foliate decoration is lovely and covers both sides of the main pear-shaped stone. Each side is decorated differently of course, giving it that much more organic and naturalistic feel we love to see in our antique Arts and Crafts jewellery. I adore the thought that has gone into the creation of the chains, with faceted rock crystal beads and graduated beads of Swiss Lapis sandwiched on either side of the bead by a small faceted roundel of rock crystal. No less than 17 beads all together, in the design. From there there is a silver chain with an intricate link every now and then. The whole of the necklace marries beautifully together.
In such pleasing condition, both silver and stones, and all beautifully hand crafted. The drop on the pendant measures approx 9.2cm in height and the long sautoir measures approx 120cm (47 inches).
I shall send in a necklace presentation box by Special Delivery within the UK or else by International Express courier. Boxes in the images are for display only and are not included.
Ref:cws
