In the early post-war years jewellery began to be accepted as an art form or ‘wearable art’, expressing the character of the wearer as much as that of the designer. In liberating themselves from the conventions of traditional jewellery, designers looked back to the modernist principles of the Bauhaus and to earlier avant-garde art movements such as Surrealism, Cubism and Constructivism. This allowed them to create unique designs, often with a sculptural quality.

Georges Braque, one of the most influential artists and painters of the period, contributed to this development. He was a prolific artist who worked in sculpture and stained glass as well as costume and jewellery design.

This brooch represents the three sons of Eos, the goddess of dawn: Phaeton, the guardian of Aphrodite’s temple, Phosphorus, the morning star and Hesperus, the evening star. The source of the design has been identified as the lithograph used on the cover of : Cinq poesies en hommage à Georges Braque by René Char, Geneva 1958.

Braque, who mixed sand in his paint to create a granular effect, also disliked shiny gold. By fusing the gold he created a gritty matt finish. In the 1960s goldsmiths from all over Europe experimented with varying surface treatments to break with conventions.

The jeweller Baron de Loewenfeld translated major themes from Braque’s paintings into jewels, including 113 designs from the Metamorphoses series, which were exhibited at the Musée du Louvre in 1963. De Loewenfeld would prepare designs from Braque’s existing work, and Braque would sign the ones he approved.