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D avid Webb was a time traveler. Through his weekly strolls in New York City, he became an itinerant denizen of the arts of other cultures and faraway lands. He enjoyed visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, art galleries and browsing Fourth Avenue rare book stores and antique shops. This is also when he began building his reference library. Webb collected Regency furniture and Chinese decorative arts with which he decorated his homes. He was especially drawn to ancient jade when creating his designs. The Martha Graham Double Dragon Necklace created in 1972 had two large jade plaques. He was a cultured man who took comfort in looking back to history for design ideas.
His jewelry took inspiration from Ancient Greek hammered gold, Etruscan granulation, Mayan iconography, the controlled contours of the Art Deco and modernist architecture. David Webb had an innate sense of design and passion for art. As he once said, “I had a tremendous feeling for art in me.”
This summer at the Breuer—just across the street from the jewelers New York headquarters—an Sotheby's and David Webb are hosting an exhibition that features a curated selection of jewels and archival material, and explores the House's enduring legacy and its contribution to the broader story of American artistic achievement. Mavericks on Madison proves that seven decades after its founding, David Webb remains a testament to the innovation, craftsmanship, and creative spirit that continue to shape American culture.
At 17, David Webb arrived in New York City as a young man from Asheville, North Carolina. By that time, he had already apprenticed at his uncle’s local jewelry store. At 14, he finished high school and served in the army. New York was his first real visit to another world. The pace of the city and its broad offerings immediately enchanted him.
Webb created jewelry he hoped would be museum worthy. In 1963, he penned an article titled “Why Not Hang Gems?” in which he reasoned that jewelry should be shown in museums alongside other artworks. Largely self-taught, Webb immersed himself in books. He was particularly inspired by Greek Gold: Jewelry from the Age of Alexander, The Splendor of Scythian Art, Art Treasures of Turkey, Orders and Decorations, and 5,000 Years of Chinese Jade. Each was a journey to another time and place, and each served to educate Webb’s eager mind. Eclecticism was his coin of the realm. He collected books for sailors, the Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work; for botanists, Great Flower Books 1700–1900; even for children, The Big Book of Wild Animals. Many of the various objets d’art that he made in 1966 for a charity art exhibition under the patronage of the Duchess of Windsor, were inspired by his book on the famous Green Vault in Dresden.
“Jewelry and objects of art four thousand years old are newer than anything we have today.”
Webb was only 23 when, in 1948, he opened his first shop which quickly became successful. David Webb jewelry was featured on the cover of Vogue in 1950. His animal bracelets became de rigueur accessories for the ladies-who-lunch set. Jackie Kennedy selected him to make the official Gifts of State for the Kennedy administration. In 1964 he received a Coty Award for Jewelry Design—it was only the second Coty given for jewelry. By the mid-60s, the biggest names in New York, Palm Beach, Hollywood and pretty much all of Texas were dedicated David Webb clients. Elizabeth Taylor was fêted with private showings at the Plaza Hotel when she came to town. Her many purchases included his first-ever animal bracelet. The makara from1957 was based on Achaemenid gold and turquoise bracelets (c. 550-330 BCE) and featured striking cabochon sapphire, coral and white enamel in a Maltese cross brooch.
What continually set David Webb apart was how art fueled his designs. A Scythian pommel that he saw in an exhibition at the Met in 1959 became the gem-covered Coiled Dragon Brooch in 1972. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome gave birth to the Geodesic Dome Ring in 1965. Its brilliant-cut diamonds set in a gold cage of sorts was a golden stand-in for the struts of the actual dome. Jewelry of the Art Deco era was deeply influential, and turned up in many of his works. He often used rich black enamel and coral or scored rock crystal. The Groove Necklace of 1972 is directly inspired by a similar pendant made by Jean Fouquet in 1929. And that animal book for children? It was the source for a number of animal-themed works, including the iconic Zebra Bracelet, in 1963. The Zebra remains the company logo today.
Webb's bold aesthetic continues to resonate with jewelry collectors today—including Frank Everett, Vice Chairman of Jewelry at Sotheby's in New York. Though he's always loved the Zebra, and notes that this particular form is a favorite for clients, he personally gravitates towards the Anchor brooch featured in the exhibition. “There’s something incredibly compelling about the way David Webb transforms a humble, utilitarian form, into an object of such exuberance," says Everett. Indeed, that innovation and transformation is the story of America in a shimmering, sparkling nutshell.
