Elsa Peretti Collection Given to British Museum

Tiffany & Co Donates Gift of Distinctive Designs by Italian Designer

May 7, 2009
Frances Spiegel

Elsa Peretti for Tiffa - The Trustees of the British Museum Press

Elsa Peretti has worked for Tiffany since 1974. Following a gift from Tiffany the British Museum is showing Peretti designs in the context of world cultures of every era.

The British Museum's vast collection includes wonders of the ancient Greek and Roman world, fascinating items from the Middle Ages, and a growing collection of contemporary objects recording mankind's creative activity throughout the centuries.

Elsa Peretti Designs – Gift from Tiffany & Co

Tiffany & Co, established in 1837 and a world leader in contemporary design, has recently presented the British Museum with a collection of items by Italian-born designer Elsa Peretti (b.1940), including tableware, accessories and jewellery.

Elsa Peretti – about the Designer

Elsa Peretti is universally acknowledged as one of the world's finest, most creative, jewellery designers. Born in Florence, she studied interior design in Rome, but initially became famous as a fashion model in Barcelona, eventually relocating to New York during the 1960s. Peretti created jewellery for Oscar de la Renta, Giorgio de Sant'Angelo and Halston (Roy Halston Frowick) before moving to Tiffany & Co.

Elsa Peretti has worked exclusively with Tiffany since 1974, creating personal ornaments and tableware in silver, gold, lacquered wood, glass, carved hard stones and bamboo basketry. She held her first retrospective exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York in 1990.

Peretti has won a number of accolades including the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award for Design (1971), the President's Fellow Award from the Rhode Island School of Design (1981) and the Council of Fashion Designers of America Accessory Designer of the Year Award for 1996. She received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from FIT in 2001.

Elsa Peretti at the British Museum

Peretti's designs echo universal cultural traditions in a very distinctive style. To demonstrate these connections, Peretti's creations are displayed in the context of world cultures of every era. The exhibition shows that modern craftsmanship and age-old symbolic meanings can be successfully combined.

Elsa Peretti – Highlights

Highlights of the Peretti Collection include:

Silver candlesticks. The fluid design of these 35-centimetre-high candlesticks resembles a human femur and was inspired by human remains from the Capuchin crypt at Santa Maria della Concezione in Rome. As a child, Peretti was fascinated by the arrangement of the 3000 monks' bones in decorative displays, reminding everyone that no one escapes death. Candles and bones, snuffed out in seconds, have always symbolised mortality.
Red 'Bean' Purse. This item is formed in the shape of a kidney bean and made of Japanese hardwood with silver hinges and clasp. It has a thumb groove and ergonomically-designed finger grips to facilitate opening.
Silver pendant bottle. This was Peretti's first bottle design and hangs on a 48-centimetre silver chain. It has no stopper, having been originally designed to hold a flower. The shape is similar to the miniature flasks worn by pilgrims to carry holy oil from the shrines of saints during early Christian and medieval times.
Rosary with Gold Amulet Box. This item consists of 59 emerald stones on a 32.8-centimetre gold chain with a minute gold crucifix. Peretti designed the box so that the rosary could be carried in a pocket as an alternative to wearing it. Rosaries of this style were popular in Spain in the 16th and 17th Centuries. In the Roman Catholic tradition, rosaries are used to count prayers in private worship. The beads are divided into groups of ten decades for the Hail Mary (Ave Maria), each separated by a single sphere, paternoster, for the Lord's Prayer.

The Tiffany gift will be on display until 28th June 2009 and further details can be obtained from the British Museum.