Pratiksha Shome
A Salvador Dali brooch created for a colourful philanthropist who served as the inspiration for a Taylor Swift song sold at Christie’s New York for $982,800.
The spectacular starfish-shaped brooch, which dates to around 1950 and is around 7 inches long, is comprised of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, platinum, and yellow gold. The creature’s core also produces two improbable branches with vivid green leaves. The price came in just under the low estimate of $1 million.
“The fantasy creature is made more surreal by a pair of gem-set butterflies that could be attached to the arms,” wrote Marion Fasel in the book Beautiful Creatures: Jewellery Inspired by the Animal Kingdom, which was based on a 2021 exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History’s Halls of Gems and Minerals. Diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, sapphires, platinum, and yellow gold were used by Dal to create the butterflies.
The cheeky divorcee-turned-philanthropist Rebekah Harkness (1915–1982), the subject of 2020 Swift’s song “The Last Great American Dynasty,” from her album Folklore, had the brooch fashioned by the artist. Swift uses the artist’s name in a slant rhyme to allude to her subject’s support of dancing and her well-known excess:
Rebeccah “gave up on the Rhode Island set, forever,” “brought in all her Bitch Pack friends from the city,” “filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names,” “blew through the money on the boys and the ballet,” and “lost on card game bets with Dal.”
Harkness, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, into a wealthy family, wed Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness in 1947. She hired renowned artists, such as Dal, to paint the stage decorations for her dance company.
Harkness desired a lasting connection with the Surrealist despite her passing. According to Vogue, Harkness insisted that her ashes be placed in a $250,000 jewelled Salvador Dal urn when she passed away in 1982. The urn’s tiny size was the sole issue. According to reports, the remainder of her body was put into a Gristedes bag. (Gristedes is a chain of supermarkets in New York City.)
In 1995, the starfish brooch was up for auction at Christie’s New York, where it fetched $170,000.
The starfish has an illustrious history of exhibition. In addition to the New York exhibition, it was on display in a display of the artist’s latter work at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2007 and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2010–2011.
Source: Artnet news
