Kasia Gasparski
Necklace of Freshwater pearls, silk, and oxidized silver
Length: c. 72 cm
Her work for the David Collection:
Kasia Gasparski has made a pearl necklace for the David Collection. Its primary ornament is an architectural plan of the Danish Institute in Damascus. This building, Bayt al-’Aqqad, was acquired and restored with funds from the C. L. David Foundation and Collection.
The building’s history dates back over 2000 years. Remains of Herod the Great’s Roman theater were found in its outer wall during renovation and are now part of the wall in the secretary’s office. Today the house forms a quadrangle around a large courtyard with a fountain and plants.
Since its inauguration in 2000, the house has been used frequently by Danish artisans, artists, authors, and scholars. Kasia Gasparski stayed at the Bayt al-’Aqqad in 2005.
The necklace’s other ornament was taken from the miniature “A Funeral Procession” from Mawlana Ahli Shirazi’s Kulliyat, Iran, c. 1550. The manuscript is now in the David Collection (inv.no. Isl 161). In the center of the picture are a number of stones rimmed by plants. It is these “stones with plants” that Kasia Gasparski has recreated. In addition to being a lovely ornament it can also be interpreted as growth that cannot be suppressed and something soft that grows despite pressure from above.
Light-gray freshwater pearls are supplemented by five dark-gray pearls in each necklace. They symbolize the five pillars of Islam and are also a reminder that nothing made by the human hand is perfect – a principle that is also found in Islamic art. The motif of a little ”anomaly” in a row of uniform elements is something that Kasia Gasparski often uses in her necklaces.
Price € 1,155 .-
