I started a lot of tours, says Marion Fasl in the Beautiful Creatures exhibition I curated in 2021 at the American Museum of Natural History. I asked groups of people of a certain young age if they were Taylor Swift fans. Although that question might sound like an odd question to start a jewelry tour with. But it did relate to one of my favorite pieces in the show. The “Starfish Étoile de Mer” brooch by Salvador Dali.
The jewel originally belonged to Rebekah Harkness, who all Swifties know was the subject of Taylor's 2020 song, “The Last Great American Dynasty.” Taylor even mentions Dali's name in the song. The singer was charmed by the heiress after she bought her grand Rhode Island home named Holiday House.
Now the Dalí jewel owned by Rebekah Harkness and the original design of the piece is being sold in separate lots by Christie's in New York. Estimates are $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 and $40,000 to $60,000 respectively.
Dali was at the height of his jewellery inspiration when he designed the Étoile de Mer around 1950.
He had started working on the subject in the late 1930s. He collaborated on a collection with Fulco di Verdura in 1941. In 1949 he began to work seriously on the subject. He then went on to collaborate with the New York-based jewellery maker Carlos Alemany.
Many of Dali's jewels turned materials into visual puns. His exquisite Ruby Lips brooch had white pearls for teeth. Dalí's diamond and platinum Eye of Time brooch was set with a diamond teardrop pendant, a ruby in the teardrop bag and a clock dial painted by the artist.
Étoile de Mer is more sophisticated in its surrealism and construction than either of these two well-known creations.
The incredible versatility of Étoile de Mer's arms is impossible to capture in a single image. If you look at the image from Christie's and the image from the museum above, you can see what I mean.
The gold frame for the ruby and diamond starfish bracelets is like a grid. Rebekah Harkness played with this feature in the way she wore the jewelry. She pinned it to her shoulder and let the bangles hang down her front and back. Don't ask me how she managed to stay that way, because I have no idea.
On at least one official occasion Rebecca wore the starfish pinned to her chest. Bejeweled: Great Designers, Celebrity Style, is a book I co-authored with Penny Proddow. There we posted a picture of her wearing it in this provocative way, where she was photographed with Andy Warhol.
Dali's drawing of the jewel shows it wrapped around a hand. But as far as I know a mechanism never worked to wear it that way. The fused watch on one of the arms in the design clearly didn't make it into the final version of the jewelry either.
One of the surreal details is the golden branches with emerald leaves that spring from the sides of the starfish.
The two small butterfly pins with emeralds and sapphires and coloured diamonds are also a special one. They could be attached to one arm of the starfish or worn separately.
But the wildlife was a little difficult to assimilate for the team used to working with scientific curators. But we compromised and placed the butterflies a little higher and away from the sea creatures in the water display case.
Dalí had strong opinions about the jewellery he designed. One of my favorite quotes by the artist was published in Dalí's 1954 catalogue “A Study of His Art-in-Jewels” he wrote:
The jewels you will find in this book were not designed to rest lifelessly in steel vaults. They were created to please the eye, to uplift the spirit, to excite the imagination, to express beliefs.
Dali's “Etoile de Mer” certainly hit all the marks when it was in Rebekah Harkness' collection. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to see it when it was on display at the American Museum of Natural History.
Source: theadventurine.com
