Orange and Grey Five Rope Neckpiece

Artist Jacqueline Irène Lillie (Austrian, born 1941)

Date2007

DimensionsL: 22 in. (55.9 cm)

MediumAntique glass seed beads, thread, DuPont™ Corian®

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Rita Barbour Kern

Object number

2014.43

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 34, Jewelry Gallery

DescriptionNeckpiece, consisting of five strands of grey and orange antique glass beads. The beads have been arranged into geometric patterns including stripes, zig zags and squares and are hand knotted with silk. The ends of each strand are fitted to a clasp formed of two interlocking U-shapes, carved from DuPont™ Corian® in Mandarin and secured by a pair of rare-earth magnets embedded in each section. The neckpiece can be tied into an ornamental knot at the front.

Label TextJacqueline Lillie was originally inspired by the early 20th-century jewelry produced by the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshops; see the necklace in this display case), but her interests later expanded to include African and Native American jewelry, Russian Constructivist painting and graphics, Art Deco design, and the wide-ranging products of the Bauhaus art and crafts school of the 1920s and 30s. Her intention, she says, is not to revive any style, but to “produce work that reflects attention to minute detail and a subtle use of color.” She states, “Flexibility is essential because all good jewelry should adapt to the wearer and be an extension of that person’s character. It is a reflection of one’s attitudes towards life and one’s surroundings. The ultimate test with any piece of art is the impact that the piece has on the person looking at it, or in my case on the person wearing it.” Lillie designs fewer than 40 objects a year. Each work requires between 200 and 300 hours of work and uses up to 10,000 beads.Published ReferencesCf. Neuman, Ursula Ilse, ed., with Jutta-Annette Page and Cornelia Holzach, Glasswear, Munich, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2007, pp. 136-37.Exhibition HistorySalzburg and Vienna, Austria, Eligius Jewellery Award, 2007.

Rattenberg, Austria, Eligius Jewellery Award, 2008.

Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic, Museum of Glass and Jewellery, Glass Bead Jewellery, 2008.

Sydney, Australia, Anne Schofield Gallery, 2009.

Krems, Austria, Galerie Goettlicher, 2009.

Edinburgh, Scottish Gallery, 2010.

London, United Kingdom, Saatchi Gallery, Collect 2010, 2010.

Edinburgh, Scottish Gallery, 2011- 2013.

New York, Collective 2 Design Fair, 2014.

Lenox, MA, Sienna Patti Contemporary, Jacqueline Lillie, 2014.