PREVIEW: JEWELLERY AND OBJECTS OF VERTU AUCTION 14 JUNE

When Mario Buccellati launched his own business in Milan in 1919, it was the beginning of one of Italy’s greatest jewellery houses and an outstanding design tradition that continues to this day.

When Mario Buccellati launched his own business in Milan in 1919, it was the beginning of one of Italy’s greatest jewellery houses and an outstanding design tradition that continues to this day.

Born in 1891 into a family of goldsmiths, Mario was apprenticed to the jewellers Beltrami & Bernati in Milan. After the First World War, in 1919, the former ‘apprentice’ took over the firm, renaming the company after his own family and conducting business from the jewellery store located at Largo Santa Margherita, near La Scala Theatre and Milan cathedral.

Inspired by the arts of the Italian Renaissance, Buccellati were unusual in that all the processes for producing a jewel were performed in one workshop, from the original design to the finished piece. Mario introduced various methods of texture-engraving, often using mixed metals of silver and gold, or platinum and gold.

The various different engraving techniques are called rigato (parallel lines cut on to the surface of metal to obtain a sheen effect), telato (texture, obtained by fine cross-hatched lines imitating the texture of linen), segrinato (engraving in every direction with overlapping textures), ornato (decoration based on natural forms such as animals, leaves and flowers), and modellato (the most delicate engraving technique reproducing several designs chiselled in three dimensions, mainly used for decorative borders).

“When the process is complete, the finish will often resemble a fine fabric – linen, lace or silk,” says Noonans’ Head of Jewellery Frances Noble.

An example of Buccellati’s modellato technique can be seen in the exquisite oval icon/locket pendant on chain, circa 1925, designed and signed by Mario Buccellati, and presented in its original case, one of the highlights of Noonans’ Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu auction on 14 June. The estimate is £5,000-£7,000.
The jewel house Buccellati went from strength to strength, with Mario’s work being widely acclaimed at the 1920 Exposition in Madrid, where his entire collection was sold. His prestigious clientele included the Royal families of Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, popes, cardinals and intellectuals, as well as musicians, writers and famous artists. The renowned Italian poet, Gabriele D’Annunzio, friend and client of Mario, described him as the ‘Prince of Goldsmiths’. In 1925, Mario opened a boutique in Rome, and another in Florence four years later.

In the 1950s, the company’s prestige and reputation continued to grow further afield with the establishment of two stores in New York, including one on Fifth Avenue.
A second Buccellati piece from this period features in Noonans’ 14 June auction, an exquisite diamond plaque brooch, circa 1950, the diamonds mounted into a delicately fashioned pierced latticework frame, within a millegrain-edged foliate undulating border, the central diamond weighing approximately 2 carats, and the mount signed ‘BUCCELLATI’. “This elegant brooch dates from the same period as the Iphigenia brooch by Mario Buccellati, now in the Buccellati Private Collection, both examples showing a highly developed sense of design and proportion, with a mathematical precision for pattern and form – surely a perfect combination,” says Frances Noble. The estimate is £7,000-£9,000.