Necklace
Designer Alexander Calder American
Known primarily for his sculptures, Calder first began to produce jewelry in 1929 while in Berlin. Hammering wires and small pieces of metal into flattened shapes, he created necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, cufflinks, and belt-buckles, among other items. Calder drew inspiration for many of his jewelry pieces from African designs, Nootka and Navajo ornaments, Amazonian feathered adornments, Brazilian luck charms, and Inca quipus, or knotted threads. While the specific referent for this necklace is unknown, its forms resemble bones or feathers and recall non-Western prototypes.
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