Item description for Antonio Pineda (1919-2009) Taxco Modernist Sterling Amethyst cufflinks

Antonio Pineda (1919-2009) Taxco Modernist Sterling Amethyst cufflinks, No issues whatsoever, fully functional. 30mm x 18mm x 23.2 grams.Antonio Pineda (1919-2009)In the mountain town of Taxco in Mexico’s state of Guerrero, large-scale mining can be dated to thesixteenth century, and silver is a way of life. In the years following the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), jewelry and other silver objects were crafted there with an entirely innovative approach, informedby modernism and the creation of a new Mexican national identity. Today, at the age of 89, AntonioPineda is one of two living members of the Taxco School and is recognized as a world-class designerand a Mexican national treasure. Nearly two hundred examples of Pineda’s acclaimed silver work willbe displayed in Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda, a travelingexhibition debuting at the Fowler Museum Aug. 24, 2008.Significantly, given Pineda’s many accomplishments and international renown, he identifies himselfprimarily as a taxqueño, or Taxco, silversmith. From its inception, the Taxco movement broke newground in technical achievement and design. While American-born, Taxco-based designer WilliamSpratling has been credited with spearheading the contemporary Taxco silver movement, it was agroup of talented Mexican designers who went on to establish independent workshops and develop thedistinctive “Taxco School.” These designers incorporated numerous aesthetic orientations—Pre-Columbian art; silverwork, images, and other artwork from the Mexican Colonial period; andlocal popular arts—merging them within the broad spectrum of modernism.Pineda himself is lauded for his bold designs and ingenious use of gemstones. Silver Seduction tracesthe evolution of his work from the 1930s–70s, and includes more than fifty each of necklaces andbracelets, as well as numerous beautiful rings, earrings and diverse examples of his hollowware andtableware. All of the works feature Pineda’s hard-to-achieve combination of highly refined and hand-wrought appeal.Pineda’s jewelry is especially known for its elegant acknowledgment of the human form. It is oftensaid that a Pineda fits the body perfectly, that it feels right when it is worn. So, for example, a thickgeometric necklace that might at first glance seem too weighty or rigid to wear comfortably is, in fact,faceted, hinged, or hollowed in such a way that it gracefully encircles the neck or drapes seductivelydown the décolletage.In addition, no other taxqueño jeweler used as many costly semiprecious stones or set them with asmuch ingenuity, skill, and variety as did Pineda. Only the most talented of silversmiths could master