Lot 372 , Van Cleef & Arpels, a rare sapphire and diamond deer brooch, circa 1950

Van Cleef & Arpels, a rare sapphire and diamond deer brooch, circa 1950, designed as a young fawn with a bell around its neck, its body set with an oval cabochon sapphire weighing approximately 20.00 carats, its eye and bell set with single-cut diamonds, mounted in gold and platinum, measuring 3.5 x 3.2cm, signed Van Cleef & Arpels, numbered 55569, French assay marks for 18ct gold and platinum, indistinct French maker's mark

Cf.: Sylvie Raulet, Jewelry of the 1940s and 1950s, London, 1988, page 89, for a comparable VCA brooch modelled as a heron in burnished gold, similarly imagined around a large claw-set peridot, dated circa 1950
£10,000-15,000

Condition:
Sapphire a very attractive slightly violet blue, good saturation, minor zoning, typical minor inclusions visible, some minor surface-reaching inclusions. Sapphire measures approximately 21 x 13.3 x 9.0, calculated weight approximately 20.00 carats - very approximate estimate due to irregular shape. Maker's mark indistinct, possibly B as the second initial. Minor discoloration to gold, some minor scratches, overall in good condition, gross weight 13 grams.