Zulu Warrior Sterling Silver Brooch

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Seller

ReuEls961528

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Condition

New

Location

South Africa

Time Period

1900-1950

SilverType

Solid Silver

Type

Other

Maker

Other

Bob Shop ID

641588063

Zulu Warrior Sterling Silver Brooch

South Africa Candida by 20th Century Precious Metal Artist Joe Calafato
13.93 grams Circa 1948
[04/12, 12:12] A Kesha: Candida Silver and its creator Joe Calafato
Joe Calafato designed and manufactured silver jewelry, flatware, and hollowware during the mid to late 20th century in a career spanning 37 years in Pretoria, South Africa.
His work made an important contribution to the development of a uniquely South African design domain and has become increasingly sought after at antique and collectible markets.
Of Sicilian parentage, Giuseppe Leonardo Calafato was born on the 10th of July 1912 in the then Lorenço Marques (now Maputo) Mozambique. In the 1920s the family moved to Johannesburg. Here he did his apprenticeship as a manufacturing jeweler under Jack Friedman a well-known local jewelry manufacturer of his time.

During his career as an independent creative silversmith, he made use of various makers marks. He started using the name Candida as his first makers mark (1947-1972), after which he switched to a number of marks, namely Carina, Velia, JC, Dawu, and Joe Calafato.
He sold his business in 1984 and, after a long battle with cancer of the esophagus, the South African King of Silver, Joe Calafato, died in 1991 at the age of 79.
Calafato used mainly two processes for producing his jewelry. The press method and a die-cast method. Candida marks used during different time periods

The press method included the use of a weighted press on a flat bed of metal overlaying a die consisting of hardened steel. With this method, the die sinker could produce fine detail, such as relief and scroll work that gets chiseled from the steel die before it is hardened.
In the die cast method a rubber mould, wax, plaster of Paris and a centrifugal force to properly distribute the molten metal in the mould, were used. Chalices, cups, and vases were hammered and hard cast as well and the lathe spun.

THE LASTING APPEAL OF CANDIDA
Calafatos jewelry designs consisted of individual pieces and any combination of bracelets, bangles, rings, brooches, pendants, necklaces, and earrings. He worked mostly in sterling silver and copper.
He also made use of silver plate, some gold, platinum, and enamel, where he primarily used the cloisonné technique. Sometimes precious and semi-precious stones were also included in the compositions.
Demonstrating a professional standard of craftsmanship, his creations over the years displayed a fairly diverse range of styles for example shifting from lyrical baroque designs to playful and romanticized human figures to minimalist abstract forms.
Especially the bold and chunky designs of some of the ensemble pieces are well known. Some brooches, pendants, and earrings were designed with movable parts, allowing the pieces to echo the wearers movement.
Calafato did not only manufacture jewelry. Throughout his career, he diversified his output to include all kinds of metal artwork. He also specialized in enameled badges, service awards, sporting spoons, reliquaries, shields, trophies, presentation keys, and trowels, as well as regalia (such as mayoral chains).

INFLUENCES AND THEMATIC CONTENT
Calafato mixed and redesigned patterns throughout his career. In the beginning, components such as scroll patterns, round balls, small smooth half drops as well as riffled hollow cups (possibly influenced by European trends) were often reconfigured and soldered together in different designs.
Later on, his inspirations shifted to African and wildlife images that were also recombined in different pieces of jewelry. His preferred medium was silver which was already well established as a popular jewellery base in the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century.
Also, a number of the early Candida artifacts reflect the use of cabochon cut (a rounded or oval cut with a flat base) semi-precious stones set in silver as well as the use of enameling which was introduced during this time.

EXAMPLES OF EARLY WORK DONE UNDER THE CANDIDA MARK
African themes formed an important line in the Candida collection and the attention that African art received from Europe during the Art Deco period (1920 -1939) resulted already then in African-inspired designs manifesting in jewelry. Interestingly, the African compositions with the Candida and the later Velia, Carina, and Dawu makers marks seem to be made only as separate brooches, pendants, bracelets,, and earrings but not in the form of necklaces or ensemble pieces.
Perhaps understandably, the dominant movement during the 1940s (recently differentiated as the 1940s retro style or retro moderne) appears to have played a significant inspirational role during the first phase of jewelry manufacturing. Typical of the time, stark geometric shapes were combined with swirling and draped forms: loops and tendrils of metal ribbon scrolls, pleats, folds, and ruffles in large and dramatic pieces. Also, the hammered surfaces on some bon-bon dishes that were created in the 1950s reflect this period well. Early Candida marked designs in which combinations of cups and leafs are combined with wirework.

During this time, international jewelry houses such as Cartier, Tiffany, and, Van Cleef & Arpels began producing their versions of popular figurative motifs: animals, ballerinas, and novelty figures such as clowns, scarecrows, and flower-sellers. This line of inspiration was also expressed by a wide range of Candida figurines in the form of brooches.
Jewellery was increasingly seen as an art form in its own right, not just as a fashion accessory, with precious metals being used for their intrinsic beauty and not only for mounting gemstones.
Amid the proliferation of styles in the 1960s and 1970s, there was, however, also a trend towards the kind of organic modernism stimulated by Scandinavian designers with many designers striving for an economy of line and form. This trend can also be detected in some of the later designs under the Candida mark.
Joe Calafato possessed a unique combination of skills with which he contributed significantly to our South African cultural heritage.

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