This item is part of J0621: Jewellery, Coins, Watches & Antiquities. Click Here to view all items in this collection.
(Jewellery, Bracelets). Vintage. Ladies. A hand-hammered silver bangle bracelet by Tone Vigeland, produced from 1960-1969. The bracelet has hammered and smooth horizontal and vertical surfaces. While the exterior of the bracelet appears to be ovular, the interior is perfectly circular. The interior of the bracelet is stamped “STERLING 925S NORWAY” alongside the PLUS art collective mark and Tone Vigeland’s mark “TV”. There is an unknown mark on the left side. Measuring 73.9mm x 66.08mm. Weighing 24.0 grams. Lovely patina with minor wear, an artistic Norwegian design in extremely fine condition.
Footnote: Tone Vigeland is one of the most prominent jewellery artists in Norway in the modern day. Vigeland was born in Oslo on August 6, 1938. She went on to study at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. She also studied goldsmithing at the Oslo Vocational School. In 1960, Vigeland made her debut as a silversmith while she was still apprenticing at the art collective PLUS in Fredrikstad. A year later, she received a journeyman’s certificate and then in 1962 she received a master’s certificate and opened her own workshop.
The work she produced while at PLUS became synonymous with modern silver Scandinavian jewellery design. Vigeland’s simple-shaped, shiny, silver jewellery and ear loops became a signature of hers and of Norwegian jewellery in the 60s. In the 1970s, she experimented with materials such as acrylic and iron, and with new shapes. In 1973, Vigeland made bracelets and necklaces constructed of small silver balls threaded onto chains. In 1976, she hooked small rings together to a net, which she made into mats of various sizes. That experiment would be later developed into necklaces and bracelets. Her first solo exhibition abroad took place in 1981 at the Electrum Gallery in London. In 1981, she hammered nails into a bracelet and gained international recognition. In 1983, Vigeland had an exhibition at Artwear in New York. From the 1980s to the 1990s, her jewellery took on more sculptural elements. In 1993, she displayed jewellery composed of small, moving, crocheted squares of silver at an exhibition in the Artists’ Association. The pieces transcended the lines of jewellery and became a portable and personal expression of individual form in art. From the mid-1990s, Vigeland began to sculpt, and her pieces are influenced by the jewellery she produced in her earlier years.
Vigeland’s work has been purchased by museums and galleries around the world. She’s received multiple awards, including the JakobPrize in 1965, the Swedish Prince Eugene Medal in 1988, the Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1996, and the Anders Jahre’s Culture Prize in 2002.