18ct Gold “Splash” Earrings Designed By Henning Koppel

Further Details

Directors Notes

Henning Koppel (1918-1981) may have been destined to become the indisputable master of silverwork design in the second half of the 20th century, but when he began working with Georg Jensen in 1945, the shift in the materials with which he worked could not have been more dramatic. He was already an exhibited sculptor, having developed particular skills in working in granite. As a designer in silver however, his new medium was infinitely more malleable – though in post-war Copenhagen, somewhat in short supply. Koppel’s early designs for the firm were therefore restricted predominantly to jewellery such as this iconic bracelet (design 88A) rather than the larger items of hollowware which would become his focus at the end of the decade. As Toni Greenbaum notes in her essay ‘Braving the Modern : Georg Jensen Jewelry 1925-1970’ (which features in the above mentioned book) it was “the first link bracelet to be connected solely through continuously intertwined units, without applied hinges or rings, this is a masterpiece of sculptural as well as structural ingenuity. Each undulating element interlocks with its neighbour by slight twists and bends in open, irregular silhouettes, defined by a line of hand finished silver that grows alternatively thicker and thinner.”