Art as Jewelry as Art

César

'Le Sein' Gold and Diamond Pendant

Lot Closed

October 6, 04:27 PM GMT

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

César Baldaccini

1921 - 1998

'Le Sein' Gold and Diamond Pendant

circa 1990, signed César on the reverse, edition 81/100, stamped 750, French eagle’s head hallmark; diamond mark with GF and a rabbit head in between letters

18k gold pendant of a breast; diamond set in nipple; flat back with pendant loop

1¼ by 1⅜ by 7⁄16 in.; 3.1 by 3.5 by 1.4 cm.

Chain: 18¼ in.; 6.4 cm.

Hôtel de Ventes, Monte Carlo, June 19, 2021, lot 169

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Diane Venet, From Picasso to Jeff Koons: The Artist as Jeweler, Skira, Milan, 2011, p. 152 (for a later version)

Martine Newby Haspeslagh, Art to Wear: Jewellery by Post-War Painters and Sculptors, Didier, London, 2012, p. 24

Diane Venet, Bijoux d'Artistes, de Calder à Koons, la collection idéale de Diane Venet, Flammarion, Paris, 2018, p. 52-53 for similar example

Louisa Guinness, Art As Jewellery: From Calder to Kapoor, ACC Art Books, Suffolk, 2018, p. 152

In the 1970s, César experimented with ‘microsculptures’ as another aspect of his work. Among the microsculptures invented by César, we find the legendary Pouce (Thumb), as well as this ‘Le Sein’ Gold and Diamond Pendant, a reproduction of a breast.