Antique High-Karat Gold, Foil-back Sapphire, Enamel, and Seed Pearl Pendant Necklace

Description:

Antique High-Karat Gold, Foil-back Sapphire, Enamel, and Seed Pearl PendantNecklace, the rectangular links set with cabochon sapphires, reverse with polychrome enamel, joined by strands of seed pearls, suspending a pendant set with mixed-cut sapphires and a briolette, completed by silk tassels, lg. 22 and 3 in.

Provenance: Descent in the family of Helen Sears Bradley, Boston.

Note: Miss Helen Sears, as a young girl, figured prominently in the work of two major Boston artists, John Singer Sargent and Sarah Choate Sears, her mother. In 1895 Sargent painted Helen in a white dress amongst hydrangeas (now exhibited at the Muesum of Fine Arts, Boston),a very similar pose to the one Helen had struck in her mother's photographic portrait the same year. When Sarah sent Sargent a copy of the photo, he replied: '...The new one of Helen has a wonderfully fine expression and makes me feel like returning to Boston and puffing my umbrella through my portrait...' Mrs. Sears became a highly accomplished photographer, exhibiting in Paris and London, and was invited by Alfred Stieglitz to join the Photo-Secession Group. The relationship between Sargent and the family continued: Sargent also sketched Helen as a young woman of 22. Helen Sears' hobby was steam yachting, and she was widely admired for her expertise in navigation and her ability to remain on the bridge in the roughest seas. In 1913, Helen married James Donald Cameron Bradley after a cruise from Boston to Bar Harbor, during which she served as captain of the vessel. She was a generous contributor to the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Estimate $4,000-6,000

Necklace
pearl strand is broken near where it connects with the pendant

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