In 1876, David Andersen founded his eponymous jewelry company in in Norway’s capital Christiania (now Oslo). As the success of the firm grew beyond his original shop and workshop, the family established several other branches and the next four generations have all contributed to the world-wide success of the family business. His descendants have always remained true to the firms aesthetic roots, but they have broken new ground as well in inventive pieces represented by this 1950s necklace by Unn Tangerud commissioned by David’s great-granddaughter, Uni David-Andersen. The distinctions are clear. The Andersen patriarch is famous for his brilliantly colored guilloche enamel and sterling silver jewelry designed in traditional Nordic motifs interpreted through the prevailing international styles of the day. David’s style continued to be interpreted by modernist artists like Willy Winnaess into the 1950s, when Uni David-Andersen began embracing the simple abstract aesthetic of what came to be known as Scandinavian Modern and applied it to more sculptural and less figurative jewels. In even more of a departure from tradition, Uni started a small workshop of her own, inviting notable women designers such as Marianne Berg and Unn Tangerud, the designer of our necklace, to experiment with newer techniques and more sculptural forms with greater emphasis on the artistic value of the pieces themselves, rather than on the economic value of the materials – often using bronze as the material of choice. This signed necklace looks very much, as it was intended to, the product of a subterranean forge in some Viking myth, created by primeval forces. Condition: Excellent. Dimensions: 15.5" drop.