A Salvador Dalí brooch made for a colorful philanthropist who inspired a Taylor Swift song has sold for $982,800 at Christie’s New York.
Designed in the shape of a starfish, the striking brooch, dating from around 1950 and approximately 7 inches long, is made of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, platinum and yellow gold. The creature also grows two unlikely branches with bright green leaves growing from its core. The price fell just short of the low estimate of $1 million.
“The fantastical creature is made more surreal by a pair of crimped butterflies that could be attached to the arms,” observed Marion Fasel in the book. Beautiful creatures: jewelry inspired by the animal kingdomwhich was based on a 2021 exposure in the Halls of Gems and Minerals of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Dalí made the butterflies from diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, yellow gold and platinum.
The artist made the brooch of mischievous divorcee turned philanthropist Rebekah Harkness (1915-1982), which is the subject of the 2020 Swift song “The Last Great American Dynasty”, from her album Folklore. Referring to his subject’s patronage of dance and its notorious excess, Swift employs the artist’s name in oblique rhyme:
“Rebekah left the Rhode Island set, forever / Flew with all her Bitch Pack friends in town / Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names / And spent the boys and ballet money / And lost in card games with Dalí.
Salvador Dalí ‘Starfish’ brooch in cultured pearls, rubies, diamonds and emeralds. Photo Steven DeVilbiss, courtesy of Christie’s.
Born into a prominent family in St. Louis, Missouri, Harkness married Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness in 1947. She commissioned well-known artists, including Dalí, to paint stage sets for her ballet company .
Harkness wanted his relationship with the Surrealist to transcend his demise. “When she died in 1982,” reported vogue, “Harkness had demanded that his ashes be placed in a $250,000 Salvador Dalí jeweled urn. The only problem was that the urn was too small. Apparently the rest of his remains were placed in a Gristedes bag. (Gristedes is a New York grocery chain.)
The starfish brooch was previously auctioned at Christie’s New York in 1995, when it sold for $170,000.
The starfish has a distinguished exhibit history. Besides the New York exhibition, it was featured in an exhibition of late works by the artist at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta in 2010-11 and at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2007.
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