Origin of Name :-
A corsage pin is a piece of jewelry designed in the
form of a spray of flowers, that is normally worn pinned to a woman's
clothes. Apart from flowers the corsage pin in this case also contains a
butterfly incorporated into the design and hence the name "butterfly
corsage pin." The corsage pin made of platinum and white gold, and
studded with cultured South Sea pearls, yellow sapphires, frosted
crystals and diamonds was designed by none other than the famous
American jewelry designer of Polish origin, Ella Gafter, of Ellagems,
New York, who is also popularly referred to as "The Pearl Queen." Thus
the name of the piece of jewelry reflects both the type of jewelry as
well as the name of its designer. In the designing of this floral and
foliage brooch, Ella Gafter has drawn inspiration from a recurrent
historic theme of using plant and animal motifs in jewelry designs,
starting with the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and reaching a climax
during the Art Nouveau period at the end of the 19th century and
continuing well into the 20th century.
Characteristics of
the corsage pin
The framework of the corsage pin is made up of platinum
and white gold. The floral and foliage motif on the corsage, consists of
five open flowers placed alternatively on the axis. Apart from the open
flowers there are also leaves, flower buds and fruits associated with
it. The leaves are made up of frosted glass. On the top left of
this flower and leaf motif is a single butterfly perched on a leaf on
the left side of the axis, from which the corsage gets its name. The
head and pair of rear wings of the butterfly are studded with diamonds.
The thorax of the butterfly is set with a yellow sapphire, and the
abdomen is represented by a single large, spherical, cultured, South Sea
pearl, with a diameter of 15.5 mm. The front pair of wings of the
butterfly is made up of frosted glass. The butterfly is set on watch
springs, causing it to quiver slightly, a technique known as en-tremblant,
which Gafter uses in many of her more whimsical pieces. The center of
each of the open flowers is also occupied by a single large, spherical,
cultured, South Sea pearl. The petals of the open flowers are encrusted
with diamonds. Likewise some of the leaves and buds are also encrusted
with diamonds. Four large spherical cultured pearls attached separately
to the corsage toward the lower end appear to represent fruits.
Altogether there are 10 lustrous South Sea pearls on the corsage, and
8.38 carats of diamonds.
Ella Gafter's Butterfly Corsage Pin
© Ellagem
History of the
corsage pin
The source of the
pearls
The source of the cultured South Sea pearls in the
corsage pin is none other than the pearl farms along the coastline of
northern and western Australia, belonging to Paspaley Pearls Pty. Ltd.
the world's largest producer of high quality South Sea Pearls. Australia
is the world's largest producer of South Sea pearls whose annual turn
out is valued at over US$ 200 million, of which the production of
Paspaley Pearls Pty. Ltd. account for over 50%. Ella Gafter has
established a close working relationship with Nick Paspaley, the
chairman of the company, and most of her pearl jewelry incorporates
South Sea pearls originating from this company. Paspaley Pearls Pty.
Ltd. are the pioneers of cultured South Sea pearls in Australia, and are
based in Darwin, Northern Australia. The company manages 20 pearl farms
situated along a 2,500 km stretch of coastline in northern and western
Australia, in the pollutant-free waters of isolated bays.
Close up view of the Ella Gafter's Butterfly Corsage Pin
© AMNH
The species of oyster
that produces South Sea pearls
The species of oyster that produces South Sea pearls
is Pinctada maxima, a bivalve mollusk that belongs to the family
Pteriidae. Pinctada maxima is the largest naturally occurring pearl
oyster in the world, growing to a maximum size of 30 cm in diameter.
Pinctada maxima is also the largest commercially harvested cultured
pearl oyster in the world, producing the largest cultured pearls in the
world, ranging in size from 9 to 20 mm, with an average size of around
13 mm. Some of the factors that have been associated with the growth of
such large pearls are the large size of the oyster with a
correspondingly larger gonad, where the bead is usually implanted; the
large size of the implanted bead; the conducive environment in which the
oyster grows and the long growth period of the oyster. The oyster's
large size enables the acceptance of a larger bead, leading to the
growth of a larger pearl. The presence of the larger gonad, where the
bead is usually implanted, enables faster deposition of nacre around the
nucleus, in the warm conditions of the South Sea, that increases the
metabolism of the oyster. Besides this a minimum of two years is given
for the growth of the cultured pearl, before it is harvested, which
allows the pearls to grow to a much larger size with a thick nacre.
There are two varieties of Pinctada maxima that
produce pearls. These are 1) The silver-lipped pearl oyster and
2) The gold-lipped pearl oyster. The two varieties are distinguished by
the distinct coloration of the outer edge of the mantle. While the
silver-lipped pearl oyster generally produces silver colored pearls, the
gold-lipped pearl oyster produces golden colored pearls.
The natural habitat
of the South Sea pearl oyster, Pinctada maxima
The South Sea connects the Indian Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean, and lies between the southern coast of China, and the
northern coast of Australia. Malaysia, the Indonesian archipelago,
Philippines and Papua New Guinea lie within this sea. The South Sea is
the natural home of the pearl oyster species Pinctada maxima, around
which a major cultured pearl industry has developed in many countries
with a coastline on the South Sea, based on the successful cultured
pearl industry developed in Australia centered around this species. Some
of the other countries that have successfully developed a cultured pearl
industry based on Pinctada maxima, apart from Australia, are Myanmar,
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Fiji and Tahiti.
The environmental conditions of the South Sea are
very conducive to the successful growth and multiplication of the
Pinctada maxima pearl oyster, as well as the rapid deposition of nacre
during the growth of the pearl. Some of these conditions are :- 1)
the clean unpolluted waters of the sea 2) the abundant availability of
plankton, the favorite food source of Pinctada maxima 3) the warm
waters of the sea which enhances metabolism and the speed of nacre
formation. Some of the characteristics of pearls produced by Pinctada
maxima are :- 1) large size ranging from 9 to 20 mm 2) thick nacre
varying from 2 to 6 mm 3) unique satin-like luster 4) subtle
array of colors such as white, cream, pink, silver and gold.
The location of the
natural habitats of South Sea pearl oysters in Australia
In Australia the natural habitat of South Sea pearl
oysters are the oyster beds located off the coast of Western Australia,
the Northern Territory and Queensland. In Western Australia these oyster
beds are found from Exmouth Gulf in the south to the Lacepede Islands in
the north, including the renowned oyster beds off the "Eighty Mile
Beach," situated almost halfway between the towns of Broome and Port
Hedland. In the Northern Territory of Australia the oyster beds are
situated along the Arnhem land coast in the northeast of the territory,
between Golburn and Crocodile Islands. In Queensland the oyster beds are
situated west of Badu Island, in the Torres Strait.
The success story of
Paspaley Pearls Pty. Ltd.
Nicholas Paspaley
Senior pioneers the production of cultured South Sea pearls in Australia
with Japanese collaboration, but the results are not encouraging
After the final collapse of the mother-of-pearl
industry in Australia in the mid-1950s following the worldwide
popularization of plastic buttons, Nicholas Paspaley Senior had nurtured
a dream of restoring the pearl industry in Australia to its former
glory, not based on mother-of-pearls, but on cultured pearls, based on
the success achieved by the Japanese with Akoya pearls which had gained
worldwide popularity. To realize his dream he first went into
partnership with a Japanese entrepreneur Mr. Kuribavashi in 1956, and
set up the first cultured pearl farm in Australia in Kuri Bay, 420 km
north of Broome. A team of Japanese pearl culturists who were employed
in the project applied culturing techniques perfected by Mikimoto for
Akoya pearls in Japan, for the culturing of South Sea pearls using the
pearl oyster Pinctada maxima. However, the results were disappointing
due to the high mortality of the seeded oysters. Another pearl farm
started in 1963 in collaboration with another Japanese company, at Port
Essington, East of Darwin, also suffered the same fate.
Nicholas Paspaley
and his team of scientists discover the causes of the high mortality of
seeded oysters
Undeterred by
the disappointing results, Nicholas Paspaley Senior, together with his
son Nicholas Paspaley Junior and their team of technicians and
scientists, embarked on a extensive research program, to identify the
causes that led to the high mortality, and to find out ways and means of
reducing such mortality. The team of scientists discovered that
techniques borrowed from Japan, did not suit the conditions in
Australia, and had an adverse effect on the sensitive natural-bred Pinctada maxima
pearl oysters. Pinctada maxima was found to be very sensitive to
stressful conditions, such as pollutants, environmental changes,
transfer from natural to farm environment, being out of water for long
periods of time etc.
Steps taken by the
Paspaley team to minimize the effect of stressful conditions on the
pearl oysters
To minimize the effect of of such stresses the
Paspaley team adopted the following measures :- 1) Creation of
"nurseries" or "dump sites" closer to the natural oyster beds after the
wild oysters were harvested, cleaned and placed in net panels of 6 or 8
shells in each. 2) Carrying out seeding operations right at the
nurseries, on floating laboratories under sterile conditions, in
pearling ships and transferring the seeded oysters in net panels back to
the nurseries or dump site where they are left for three months before
transferring to pearls farms closer to the shoreline. 3) Oysters taken
aboard the ship from nurseries are kept alive by constantly circulating
sea water until the seeding operation is carried out. 4) The
environmental conditions of pearl farm growout sites where husbandry
process takes place are maintained as far as possible closer to the
conditions obtaining in the natural environment of the oyster beds. 5)
Maintaining the health conditions of the seeded oysters at optimum
level, by regular cleaning of implanted shells, every 2-4 weeks,
manually or mechanically using high pressure cleaning machines,
throughout the two year culture period, to remove marine growth on the
shells that can harbor parasites and diseases.
Nicholas Paspaley
Senior realizes his vision for his company and his adopted country
Australia
After the adoption of the above measures the results
achieved by the Paspaley team was dramatic, with a high survival rate,
producing bigger and more luxurious pearls. Today Paspaley Pearls Pty.
Ltd. has become the undisputed leader in the production of cultured
South Sea pearls, and have set the standards for the culturing of these
pearls, followed by other countries in the region with a coastline in
the South Sea, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand,
Myanmar etc. The company's 20 pearl farms are situated along a wide
expanse of coastline 2,500 km long in northern and western Australia,
some of which are accessed by light aircraft maintained by the company,
that are used for movement of personnel and supplies on a daily basis.
The company also maintains more than a dozen ships and smaller working
craft, that are used at all stages of the pearl production cycle, such
as fishing, seeding, transport, husbandry and harvesting, besides
delivering supplies and engaged in maintenance. Before Nicholas Paspaley
Senior died in 1984 at the age of 71, his vision for his company as well
his adopted country Australia became a reality, when the pearl industry
in Australia was restored to its former glory and the country as well as
the company became the world's leading producers of cultured South Sea
pearls.
Jewelry designs
adopted by Ella Gafter for most of her designs
Her jewelry
designs are based on naturalistic themes reminiscent of the Renaissance
and Art Nouveau periods
The jewelry design adopted by Ella Gafter for the
corsage pin is a naturalistic theme consisting of flowers and foliage,
which was in keeping with the naturalistic theme she has adopted for
most of her jewelry, since she started designing jewelry in Rome, after
she learnt the art of jewelry designing, having migrated from Poland
after World War II. Some of the naturalistic themes used in her jewelry
designs include, flower and foliage motifs, flowers only motif, bouquet
of flowers, basket of flowers, animal motifs such as parrots and other
birds, turtles, octopus, insects such as butterflies etc. These motifs
are reminiscent of the popular jewelry designs of the Renaissance and
Art Nouveau periods. Hence the descriptive terms used for her jewelry,
such as "formal, yet decadent," "whimsical jewelry," "outrageously
decadent jewels" etc. all in reference to the ancient naturalistic
themes in her jewelry, to which she has given a new life and meaning,
using magnificent pearls, corals, diamonds, sapphires, rubies and
emeralds.
Naturalistic
themes are a recurrent theme in the history of jewelry designing from
the time of the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians to the modern period
The use of naturalistic themes in jewelry designing
seem to be as old as the first creation of jewelry by man. Some of the
earliest naturalistic themes dating back from 3000 BC to 1000 BC, are
seen in ancient Egyptian jewelry such as the scarab (beetle), falcon,
serpent, the eye, lotus flower etc. Among jewelry from Mesopotamia
dating back 3000 BC to 2000 BC, some of the themes include plant motifs
such as leaves, spirals, bunches of grapes, and animal figures. Jewelry
from the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations dating back from 2700 BC to
1100 BC show animal motifs such as starfish and cuttlefish and insects
such as butterflies and bees. Jewelry from classical Greece dating from
323 BC to 31 BC had motifs like flowers, rosettes, flower vases, cupids
and doves. Stylized animal motifs were used during the Medieval period
(10th-13th centuries), but the common themes of this period were
crucifixes and other religious emblems.
Naturalistic
themes reach a climax during the Renaissance period and the Art Nouveau
period
During the Renaissance period (14th-17th centuries)
religious symbols used in jewelry designing were replaced by classical
and naturalistic themes. The use of plant and animal motifs in jewelry
designing reached a climax during this period. During the Baroque period
from the 1630s to 1680s, naturalistic floral styles predominated as a
result of the Botanical mania in Europe, that led to the awareness and
appreciation of natural flora. During the Georgian period from 1714 to
1830 common naturalistic themes included mosaics, wheat and plumage,
floral designs with a single stem or bouquet of flowers, doves and the
phoenix. The early Victorian period known as the Romantic period from
1837 to 1860 saw the revival of the naturalistic themes of the
Renaissance period that included plant motifs such as flowers, bouquets
of flowers, branches, leaves, grapes, and berries, and animal motifs
such as snakes and serpents, love and song birds and insects. Some of
the naturalistic themes used in the mid-Victorian period from 1860 to
1890, included birds, swans, bees and daisies, though the period was
dominated by mourning jewelry with somber and austere motifs. During the
late Victorian from 1890 to 1901, the Darwinian controversy and the new
botanical discoveries once again popularized natural themes such as
plant and animal motifs, and insect motifs such as butterflies, beetles
and houseflies. This period corresponds with the Art Nouveau period that
originated in France in 1890 and lasted until around 1915. The use of
naturalistic themes reached a peak during this period and included
insect motifs such as butterflies, bees and dragon flies, bird motifs
such as peacocks and swans, and reptile motifs such as snakes and
serpents. The plant motifs included undulating vines, leaves, ferns, and
a variety of flowers such as orchids, irises, water lilies, poppies, ivy
etc.
Ella Gafter's career
as a jewelry designer
Her early
childhood and circumstances that led to her migration to Rome where she
was introduced to a career in jewelry designing
Ella Gafter who was born in Poland and spent her
childhood in that country, still remembers vividly the dark period of
Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II and the atrocities
committed on the Jewish population. This frightening experience in her
childhood had a deep psychological impact and created within her a
yearning for, freedom from fear, peace and security, and expression of
the good qualities of human nature such as artistic, literary and other
forms of peaceful human endeavors. The quest for her yearnings brought
her to the city of Rome, a historical city with deep-rooted artistic
traditions, and the home to artists and craftsmen of different form of
artistic expressions such as painting, sculpturing, jewelry designing
etc. Ella Grafter had a natural inclination towards learning the crafts
of jewelry designing and goldsmithing, and accordingly underwent
training in these two fields. She was intelligent and hardworking and
quickly learnt the intricacies of the craft, and soon began designing
and creating her own jewelry.
The jewelry she
created captures the attention of the Italian nobility
The extraordinary quality of the pieces
she created captured everybody's attention, and particularly that of the
Italian nobility, who collected her pieces, and made her a part of their
exclusive aristocratic class. This was a major breakthrough for Ella Gafter that helped her in exposing her creations to an international
clientele. Ella Gafter married a third-generation Italian jeweler who
specialized in diamonds and with whom she shared a common passion for
beautiful things in life and the creation of exquisite pieces of
jewelry. The rare combination of her talent and her friendly
disposition, endeared her to her customers, including Europe's most
notable families, and helped her to develop important friendships with
suppliers, such as the Paspaley pearling family in Australia.
Ella Gafter shifts
the base of her operations to New York, and establishes Ellagem Inc.
From Rome she shifted the base of her operations to
New York's Manhattan, still maintaining her workshops in Naples, Italy.
In New York she founded Ellagem Inc. with its offices on the 31st floor
of a building on the fifth avenue. She converted her office into an art
deco and antique private viewing showroom, which resembled an art studio
in Florence or Paris, and attracted many eminent clients who came to
view her exquisite collection and make purchases. The walls of her
office were adorned with enlarged pictures of her most exquisite
creations, and the furniture included gilded Louis XIV chairs and an
Italian marble table inlaid with colored flowers, silverware and
crystal, for serving freshwater and champagne to all visiting clients.
Among her eminent clientele were the European aristocracy, Hollywood
superstars, top pop singers such as Michael Jackson, sports stars and
other celebrities and members of the American high society.
Talila (Left) and Ella Gafter of Ellagem Inc. NY
© Ellagem
Gemstones needed
for her creations are chosen by herself during her trips around the
world to the source of the gemstones
Ella Gafter has become one of the world's most
acclaimed jewelry designers, who uses South Sea pearls as one of the
principal components in her exquisitely designed pieces, combined with
other gemstones such as brilliant-cut diamonds, emeralds, rubies and
blue sapphires, set in gold and platinum. All her jewelry are
masterpieces of exquisite handmade craftsmanship, turned out in her
workshops in Naples, Italy, by a team of dedicated craftsmen, trained in
jewelry crafting from childhood, and who had been serving her faithfully
for more than 20 years. The gemstones used in her jewelry are of the
highest quality which she herself chooses during her trips around the
world to the source of the different gemstones needed for her creations.
Thus, she goes to Australia where she picks the best South Sea pearls
from the Paspaley's annual harvests, to Sri Lanka to select the best of
the sparkling range of blue sapphires available, to Thailand, Vietnam
and Myanmar looking for the flaming red rubies, to Japan for luminous
Akoya pearls, and to South America and Africa for brilliant emeralds.
Ella Gafter's
first trip to Australia where she meets Paspaley accidentally that leads
to a long term working relationship
Most of the pearls used in Ella Gafter's creations
are from Nick Paspaley's pearl farms scattered across the coastline of
western and northern Australia. Ella Gafter has established a close
friendship and working relationship with the Paspaley pearling family of
Australia, the pioneers of the cultured South Sea pearl industry in that
country. Normally anyone would assume that the friendship she had
cultivated with the pearling family was as a result of routine business
contacts between an internationally renowned supplier and an equally
renowned consumer of pearls. However, the fact is far from this
assumption. Ella Gafter first met Paspaley not in the course of a
routine business transaction but accidentally while she was making a
trip of a lifetime to Australia, when she arrived in the outskirts of
Broome, where her car became stuck in the mud. Subsequently, she
discovered that the area where her vehicle got stalled was actually a
mud-soaked pearl farm belonging to Nick Paspaley. Being in the pearl
business herself, and with an insatiable passion for these creations of
nature Ella Gafter was fascinated with what she saw at the farm,
an eventually purchased the entire crop of pearls from that farm. Since
then she had been visiting Australia regularly every year after each
harvest of pearls, to pick out the best pearls that would suit her
creations. She would examine hundreds of pearls during these trips, but
would only select a precious few that were worthy enough for her unique
creations. In the year 2001, Ella Gafter and her daughter Talila, who is
her business partner, visited Port Bremer, one of the remotest of
Paspaley's twenty pearl farms on the Coburg Peninsula. With her
usual friendly disposition Ella Gafter and her daughter were quick to
make friends with the pearl farmers based in this remote area, and
entertained them with her cooking skills, by preparing delicious pearl
meat pasta and champagne-filled fruit salad.
Ella Gafter wins the
Tahitian pearl trophy in 2002
Ella Gafter also used Tahitian black pearls in her
creations. A series of her creations in 2002 consisted whimsical
animal, bird and fish pins, in which the body was the pearl and the
feathers, wings or fins were made of rock crystal, mother-of-pearl,
rubies or black onyx. A necklace and earring ensemble which she created
in 2002, consisted of entwined leaves of channel-set rubies and pave
diamonds and drops of perfectly matched black Tahitian pearls. Her
extraordinary skills in designing unique pieces of pearl jewelry
received recognition in 2002, when she was awarded the special Arte Y
Joya prize, at the first edition of the Tahitian Pearl Trophy.
Ella Gafter's
extraordinary creative skills receive recognition by the American Museum
of Natural History. The Butterfly Corsage Pin is selected as an exhibit
for the traveling exhibition Pearls : A Natural History
In June 2001, Ella Gafter received her greatest
recognition of her skills yet, when one of her contemporary pieces of
pearl jewelry, the "Butterfly Corsage Pin" the subject of this webpage,
was selected by the American Museum of Natural History, New York,
to be displayed at its "Pearls : A Natural History" traveling exhibition
organized in collaboration with the Field Museum of Chicago, which was
first held in New York in October 2001 and later at the Chicago
Field Museum in June 2002. Since then the exhibition had been hosted in
several museums around the United States, and also in countries like
Canada, France, Australia, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. The
exhibition featured more than 600 pearl exhibits that included a replica
of the largest pearl ever discovered, the 14.5 pounds "Pearl of Islam",
contemporary pearl jewelry, and historic pieces that had once been owned
by renowned personalities and celebrities like Queen Victoria, Marie
Antoinette, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.
Ella Gafter created the "Butterfly Corsage Pin" in
1999, and since then kept it in her plush salon in New York's fifth
avenue. She only brought out the pin occasionally, to impress and
astound the private clients who make the pilgrimage to her salon,
according to her daughter, Talila Gafter, who is a business partner in
the Ellagem enterprise.
Ella Gafter goes into
partnership with her daughter Talila Gafter
Ella Gafter has gone into partnership with her
daughter Talila Gafter, who was born in Italy and educated in
Switzerland, Rome and the United States. She has degrees in Law and
Philosophy, and subsequently obtained a Ph.D. She speaks six different
languages. She also obtained a business management qualification from
Harvard, and contributes modern-day management skills to the company's
flourishing business, and has achieved a major expansion of the brand's
international presence. Together Ella Grafter and her daughter Talila
Grafter have created a thriving business enterprise which has received
international acclaim for its unique and magnificent jewelry creations.
Talila lives in New York with her husband and three children.
You are welcome to discuss this
post/related topics with Dr Shihaan and other experts from around the
world in our
FORUMS (forums.internetstones.com)
Related :-
1)
Imperial Hong Kong Pearl
2)
Paspaley Drop-shaped Pearls
3)
Paspaley Pearl
External Links :-
1)
www.ellagafter.com
References :-
1) Ella Gafter : The Elegant Queen of Pearls.
www.ellagafter.com
2) Ella Gafter, Pearl Queen - National Jeweler,
Saturday, June 16, 2001.
3) Corsage pin with butterfly - Website of the
American Museum of Natural History
