A brown lanyard tied to a cooper cagework made of small black thorns glued together in an irregular pattern. The interior of the cagework is composed of an amber-colored center and pinkish translucent circular glass mass.

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See more objects with the tag adornment, wire, transparent, molten.

Object Timeline

1960	Work on this object began.
1970	Work on this object ended.
2016	We acquired this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2017	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Necklace

This is a necklace. It was designed by Claire Falkenstein. It is dated c. 1965 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is glass, bent, flattened, and welded copper wire, leather. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Sculptor Claire Falkenstein was a member of the burgeoning post-World War II art scene influenced by European Modernism. Some of her monumental works were among the first American nonobjective sculptural forms. She worked with many different processes and media, maintaining a unique and distinctive style across materials. Falkenstein applied her metal-welding skills to enclosing space in dense cage-like and folded wire structures as in this glass and copper necklace.

This object was donated by Susan Lewin. It is credited The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Necklace (USA)
cast brass.
Gift of Elaine Lustig Cohen.
1997-59-5

Yellow-green glass vase in the form of a flared jack-in-the-pulpit plant. The vase is shaped like a champagne flute, flaring into a wide brim at the top. The brim is roughly oval-shaped, pointed at back and front, pulled up at the back and flowing down at the front. The brim is bright yellow-green, fading to transparent green in the body and stem of the vase.

Vase (England)
glass.
Gift of Paul F. Walter.
2009-38-1

Cocktail Ball And Tray (USA)
chrome-plated metal, rubber.
Gift of Mel Byars.
1991-59-148-a,b

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

Bangle (India)
gold band, glass "gem".
Gift of Mrs. Max Farrand.
1953-143-7

This necklace is made of silver, covered with dense, overlapping rows of hammered, flattened feather-like steel nails. There is a row of small, gold pod forms along inner edge, and for the clasp, it is large and covered by roughly square pale rose mother-of-pearl with gold fastenings. Although made of metal, the necklace gives the appearance of dark, slender feathers, with the inner collar dense with dark gold clasps, where the pods and steel nails are attached.

Necklace (Norway)
steel, gold, silver, mother-of-pearl.
Museum purchase from Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Funds and....
1984-83-1

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 39.2 × 12.5 × 3 cm (15 7/16 × 4 15/16 × 1 3/16 in.)

It has the following markings

on reverse of two left prongs, 'F' and 'A'

Cite this object as

Necklace; Designed by Claire Falkenstein (American, 1908 - 1997); glass, bent, flattened, and welded copper wire, leather; H x W x D: 39.2 × 12.5 × 3 cm (15 7/16 × 4 15/16 × 1 3/16 in.); The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; 2016-34-28

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Jewelry of Ideas: Gifts from the Susan Grant Lewin Collection.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/R36zr/
Accession Number 2016-34-28
Object ID 554917287