#1199

 

Long Necklace with antique red coral carving from Torre del Greco, Italy, matching small floral pieces and beads - also Chinese carved jade leaves and beads of jade, amethyst, and 14k gold. 

This piece was made W'96 for Eleanor Lambert. 

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The story of Eleanor Lambert’s life long love of Venice:

 

As the first press director of the Whitney Museum, Miss Lambert was assigned to oversee the execution of the American Pavillion of Contemporary Art at the 10th Venice Biennale in 1934, sponsored by the Whitney. Miss Lembert made a brief stopover in Paris, and while there met a handsome young journalist named Seymour Berkson. Arriving in Venice, she was shocked that a portrait of the actress, Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst’s mistress, by Tade Styka, was hanging in the vestibule of the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Hearst had persuaded the organizers of the Biennale - Count Giovanni Volpi and Benito Mussolini - to include the full length painting in the American collection. And Berkson, as the general manager of Hearst operations in Europe, was involved in the controversial project that escalated and nearly led to diplomatic difficulties between Italy and the United States. Yet the portrait remained on display.

 

After the kerfuffle cooled, Berkson invited Miss Lambert to dinner and the two fell madly in love, though both were married to other people. Two years later, they married each other.

 

For the rest of her life, Eleanor helped the Save Venice Foundation - especially during the directorship of Beatrice Guthrie.