Bespoken Sculptural Sterling Silver Necklace Graziella Laffi

A highly sculptural sterling silver necklace by Peruvian silversmith and designer Grazielle Laffi (1923-2009), Lima, circa 1970. Marks to necklace: PERU, 950. The necklace has a very modern appearance and features an articulate chain links made of round discs alternate with double small tubes. The large three-dimensional pendant appears to be a stylized curled serpent or snake, with eyes and protruding feet. In pre-Columbian culture, serpent represents the guardian of underworld and the beginning of new life. In Inca mythology, the snake also embodies wisdom and knowledge.
The drop length of the necklace is about 14 as shown on the mannequin and it has a circumference of 26". It weights 122 grams (3.92 troy ounces).
Graziella Laffi was born in 1923 in Florence, Italy to Gino Laffi, a silversmith and artist. Following her family tradition, Graziella enrolled in master classes after elementary school, focusing on design and painting. She next attended Escuela de Bellas Artes de Puerta Romana for three years, where Gino taught, and then to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, where she concentrated in architecture until the start of World War II. In 1947, Graziella, then twenty-four, immigrated with her parents to Peru. Gino later created a silversmith studio and showroom called Fabrica Laffi on Avenue Mexico, where Graziella initially learned her craft. The pre-Columbian culture in her adopted country inspired Graziella to travel and collect, which ultimately influence her design in the silver pieces. Graziella learned the metalworking techniques of the ancient Peruvian civilizations and rejected the current technology. She mostly used hammering, rolling and creating joints as the ancients do. As an ambassador of Peruvian culture, her work promoted the indigenous Peruvian art and rekindled the interest in its ancient heritage throughout South America, the United States and Europe. She exhibited her growing collection of Peruvian artifacts alongside silver work in Washington, D.C. and New York, including the American department store May Co. and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. In 1989, she held an exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi and also displayed her work at the Milan and Florence Biennale. Graziella exhibited her work extensively, yet it was not for sale. According to her unpublished autobiography, Graziella intended the collection to be on permanent display at an institution in Lima. That plan did not come to fruition. In 2002 Graziella presented a necklace to Queen Sofía of Spain, and most recently, since Graziella's death in 2009, twelve works entered the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Provenance: property from the Family of Graziella Laffi.