| In the 1880s and 1890s, the Howard Sterling Company produced both derivative products, such as their medallion work, and highly innovative designs, many of which, in my opinion, surpass the creativity of those of more well-known makers like Shiebler and Gorham. The pin pictured here depicts a classical putto, in typical drapery, recoiling from an attack by an enormous Japanese beetle. The shape of the pin is an irregular rectangle with faux cracks. This is one of my favorite pins of all time. One revolutionary aspect of the Japanese influence on Western decorative arts was that the inherent beauty of the natural world, even its "ugliest" denizens, is superior to the idealized beauty of more formal decorative styles such as Neoclassicism. It is hard to imagine a more concise manner of summarizing that tenet than to depict a "hideous" beetle attacking a classical figure. |
