Art Deco Inspired Red Coral Set of Drop Earrings and Pendant with Marcasite Accents, 925 Sterling Silver Hallmarked
Art Deco Era 1920-1940’s
The Art Deco movement was an attempt to combine the harshness of mass production with the sensitivity of art and design. Starting at the “International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts” held in Paris in 1925 and continuing in some forms until the onset of the Great Depression and World War II. It was during this period that Coco Chanel introduced costume jewelry to complete the costume.
Some of the characteristics of the costume jewelry in the Art Deco period were:
Free-flowing curves were replaced with a harshly geometric and symmetrical theme.
Long pendants, bangle bracelets, cocktail rings, and elaborate accessory items such as cigarette cases and holders.
It combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented elegance, luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by its functionality and desire to be modern. The linear symmetry of Art Deco was a distinct departure from the flowing asymmetrical organic curves of its predecessor style Art Nouveau.
Marcasite
The mineral marcasite, sometimes called white iron pyrite, is iron sulfide (FeS2) with orthorhombic crystal structure.In marcasite jewelry, pyrite used as a gemstone is termed "marcasite" – that is, marcasite jewelry is made from pyrite, not from the mineral marcasite. In the late medieval and early modern eras the word "marcasite" meant both pyrite and the mineral marcasite.