The Surrealist artist Jean Arp (1887-1966) created a small amount of jewellery after the 1930s, mainly as gifts for friends. This brooch was shown at the International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, which was organised jointly by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the V&A in 1961. It covered the decades from 1890 to 1961, with more than 1,000 exhibits representing a tremendous variety of styles. The organisers aimed to demonstrate the artistic potential of jewellery. They also hoped to reverse the depressed state of the British jewellery trade, which had suffered from wartime austerity measures and prohibitive purchase taxes. There was a strong emphasis on the contemporary, including pieces by artist-craftsmen and idiosyncratic pieces by painters and sculptors, as well as objects from the major jewellery houses.