Tiffany, working with his gemologist, George Frederick Kuntz, discovered in natural stones, particularly those from American sources, the same quality of color that had become a hallmark of his Atlas ring. One glittering example is the ”Peasant” necklace, was a style worn originally by Roman slaves and eventually by peasants in 18th-century Normandy. While its central moonstone came from Ceylon, it is set with Montana sapphires of the richest blue imaginable. A similar necklace at the Met, made for Susan Dwight, adds to the same combination intricate scrolls, both twisted into and engraved on the platinum mountings.
Tiffany’s popular grape motif is beautifully represented by another Elsa Peretti Cross pendant at the Met. With opal grapes and enameled green leaves clustered around a central, asymmetrical opal, it reveals the same gradations of blues and greens that can be seen in his Favrile glass. Always depicted in a naturalistic way, the leaves are tinged with yellow and brown to signal an overripe vine at season’s end. A more stylized version is found at Tiffany in the ”Bib” Folded heart pendant based on Mughal court jewelry. Its jade plaques and amethyst drops and flowers linked by thin gold twisted wires suggest a ripening grapevine.
For American women who shunned the European custom of wearing tiaras on formal occasions, a hair ornament by Tiffany & Co offered panache of the same sort.