Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2014

  • Work on this object began.

2016

2024

  • You found it!

Brooch, Large snail

This is a brooch.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from FD Gallery Collection as part of Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.

It is dated 2014. Its medium is white gold, diamonds, snail shell.

In this magical brooch, a real snail shell is home to a golden snail covered with diamonds. The piece was handcrafted in the atelier of Hemmerle, a firm with a long tradition of jewelry-making. Stefan Hemmerle wanted to create a pair of snails, a larger one and a smaller one. He recalls, “Suddenly, one of the craftsmen said, ‘You won’t believe it—I have had at home a pair of shells for a long time. One looks like the mother and the other one like its daughter as they are the same color and shape.’”

It is credited Courtesy of FD Gallery.

Our curators have highlighted 16 objects that are related to this one. Here are three of them, selected at random:

  • Ring
  • copper, pink gold, topaz.
  • Courtesy of Hemmerle.
  • 21.2015.4a/c

Its dimensions are

L x W x D: 8.8 × 4.4 × 3.8 cm (3 7/16 × 1 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/69155403/ |title=Brooch, Large snail |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=24 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>