Eleanor Moty (American, b. 1945) Jade Belt Buckle, USA, 1969

Front: sterling silver, copper photo-electroplated image, jade with quartz crystal inclusions
Back: sterling silver, photo-etched bronze, copper electrodeposition
Signed to buckle and frame: "MOTY"

(H: 2 7/8, W: 3 1/8, D: 1 in. (buckle frame); 29 in. (total length))

Qty: (1)

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist
Property from the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection

Exhibited

"Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection -- A Selection of Contemporary American Crafts", Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA, October 17 - November 20, 1980; illustrated on page 51 of the accompanying catalogue.
Goldsmith '70", of metalwork by American and Canadian craftsmen assembled by the Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, and shown there from March 26 - May 17, 1970 and at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York City, from June 19 - September 7, 1970
"Metal '72 Invitational", State University of New York at Brockport, Brockport, New York, March 26 - May 17, 1972

Literature

Matthew Drutt, ed./author, Bruce W. Pepich, and Helen W. Drutt English, Quiet Elegance: The Jewelry of Eleanor Moty, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart, 2020, p. 26 (for an illustration of the present lot)
Susan Cummins et al., In Flux: American Jewelry and the Counterculture, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart, 2020, pp. 27, 43, 72 (for a discussion and works by the artist)
Kelly H. L'Ecuyer, Jewelry by Artists: In the Studio, 1940-2000, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 2010, pp. 135-136 (for a discussion and works by the artist)

Artist Biography

Born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois in 1945, metalsmith and jewelry artist Eleanor Moty received her B.F.A. from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1968. She earned her M.F.A. in 1971 from Tyler School of Art where she studied with Stanley Lechtzin and Albert Paley and was influenced by the work of jewelry designer Miye Matsukata. A pioneer and authority on the use of electroplating and photo-etching in jewelry making, Moty became renowned for her use of innovative and industrial techniques in the 1960s and 1970s; her mature work is recognized for its use of natural crystals and stones set within geographically-inspired designs that showcase the “unique beauty of the minerals.” The recipient of many awards and accolades, Moty taught for two years at the Moore College of Art and then for twenty-eight years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work is included in the permanent collections of museums worldwide, including Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Houston Museum of Fine Arts; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; and The Design Museum, Munich. A retrospective of Moty’s work bearing the same name as her recently published monograph, Quiet Elegance: The Jewelry of Eleanor Moty, is currently on view at the Racine Art Museum until January 28, 2023.

Very good; light surface wear and patination; a hairline through the finished surface of the stone, possibly dating to the making of the piece.