Emerald and diamond brooch, Verdura, 1950s. Photo Sotheby's

Set with a cabochon emerald within a frame of cross motifs set with brilliant-cut diamonds, signed Verdura, French import mark, case stamped Verdura. Estimation 32,000 — 42,000 GBP

Arguably one of the most glamorous and romantic figures of 20th century jewellery design, Fulco Santostefano della Cerda, Duke of Verdura and Marquis of Murata la Cerda, was born in Palermo in 1898, into a world best described in his cousin Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, Il Gattopardo. His rich and sophisticated aesthetic sense, derived in part from this elegant Sicilian upbringing, saw him taken on as a textile designer by Coco Chanel, introduced by his friends Linda and Cole Porter. After moving on to produce jewels for Chanel, Verdura was employed by Paul Flato in New York, where his work, ‘Verdura for Flato’, became highly sought after. He opened his own Manhattan business in 1939. Throughout his life and career Fulco was an enthusiastic and gifted socialite. His clients, collaborators and friends, often interchangeable, included some of the century’s most elegant and interesting figures, not only Chanel and Porter, but Salvador Dali, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Gianni Agnelli, The Duchess of Windsor and Daisy Fellows among many others. The wit, imagination, and intelligence which made him such a popular figure, are also the defining trait of his designs, coupled throughout with a very modern fondness for organic forms. This brooch, of ray design, a form used a number of times through the middle of the century, stems from a high point of Fulco’s career, the same period in which he finally opened his own European office in Paris.

Sotheby's. Fine Jewels, London | 16 juil. 2014, 10:00 AM -www.sothebys.com