A sapphire pendant by Umberto Mastroianni, the circular panel with image of a bird, the eye set with a circular sapphire, signed Mastroianni, 3.4cm long Umberto Mastroianni (1910 - 1998) studied at the Academy of San Marcello in Rome, and moved to Turin in the 1950s and emerging as one of the leading post World War II Italian sculptors, and started to create intensely worked, expressive jewels. Like many other Italian artist jewellers, he probably worked with Masenza in Rome and the Fuminati Brothers during the 1970s. Mastroianni's jewels have been exhibited throughout Italy and world wide and have won many design awards. Some of his jewels are now on public display in The National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.