Magnificent Aquamarine & Diamond Pendant of Art Deco, 1930s

"While good citizens go to bed / in their nightcaps... we dress in party gear / and hit the taverns, dawdling, dawdling / layabouts by lamplight. The night is not only for sleeping The night is there for something to happen!" In the UFA film "Dance on the Volcano" from 1938, people party until they drop, despite all the crises and catastrophes. The most famous song from the film, sung by Gustaf Gründgens, is a joyful song about nightlife, champagne and sin. The fact that the film was able to appear in its time is surprising to this day. And yet it accurately describes life and the attitude to life in the pulsating metropolis of Berlin. It was a torn time between monarchy and dictatorship, between luxury and misery, between war and peace, especially in the late 1920s and early 1930s - the film is a late final chord here. The magnificent pendant here is a precious testimony to this world that tried to forget itself in celebration. One stunning aquamarine is furiously presented by a setting of gold set with diamonds. The large, clear stone displays an intense, slightly turquoise sea blue colour and weighs about 40 carats. This is the colour of historic aquamarines, for which the stone once received its name: Aqua Marina - water of the sea. Finely chased leaf ornaments surround the gemstone, five small diamonds in settings of platinum give additional points of light to the design. From its basic form, the pendant is completely committed to the modern taste of the 20th century. If we imagine the work in white gold or platinum and with a little more graphic decoration, the shape of the large pendant could not be more typical of the Art Deco of the 1920s. However, the change in colour and the powerful, voluminous details, reminiscent of Biedermeier forms, now create a completely different impression in the 1930s: it is a piece of jewellery that wants to enchant and take away from the present into a romantic, fairy-tale counterworld. And let's be honest: Who wouldn't want to dream this dream once in a while?

Estimate:£9,165.34

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