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Early 20th-century Boston was a hub for American Arts and Crafts metalwork and jewelry. Boston makers like Edward Everett Oakes became known for their colorful jewelry. Oakes had an especially long and successful career beginning in 1909, in the workshop of Frank Gardner Hale. In 1914, Oakes would have assisted in making similar cross necklaces in Hale’s shop for an exhibition of ecclesiastical jewelry hosted by Boston’s prestigious Society of Arts and Crafts. This necklace, made after Oakes opened his own workshop in 1918, is reversible—it features pearls on one side and amethysts on the other. The necklace, with its scrolling wirework motifs, leaves, and gems, represents the pinnacle of Boston Arts and Crafts design and features all the elements for which Oakes and the city’s other jewelry artists were known. Oakes continued to make jewelry in this style until his death in 1960. With its material connection, pearl and amethyst, the necklace closely relates to Oakes’s masterwork—a platinum and gem-set jewelry box known as a “casket”—which was completed in 1929 and added to the MFA collection in 2000.
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Necklace
Edward Everett Oakes (American, 1891–1960)
American
1920s
Medium/Technique
Gold, pearl, amethyst
Dimensions
Length: 35 cm (13 3/4 in.)
Length (pendant): 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.)
Length (pendant): 5.5 cm (2 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Terry Somerson in loving memory of Paul Somerson
Accession Number2021.451
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Necklaces and neck bands
Early 20th-century Boston was a hub for American Arts and Crafts metalwork and jewelry. Boston makers like Edward Everett Oakes became known for their colorful jewelry. Oakes had an especially long and successful career beginning in 1909, in the workshop of Frank Gardner Hale. In 1914, Oakes would have assisted in making similar cross necklaces in Hale’s shop for an exhibition of ecclesiastical jewelry hosted by Boston’s prestigious Society of Arts and Crafts. This necklace, made after Oakes opened his own workshop in 1918, is reversible—it features pearls on one side and amethysts on the other. The necklace, with its scrolling wirework motifs, leaves, and gems, represents the pinnacle of Boston Arts and Crafts design and features all the elements for which Oakes and the city’s other jewelry artists were known. Oakes continued to make jewelry in this style until his death in 1960. With its material connection, pearl and amethyst, the necklace closely relates to Oakes’s masterwork—a platinum and gem-set jewelry box known as a “casket”—which was completed in 1929 and added to the MFA collection in 2000.
DescriptionGold cross necklace. Chain has five rectangular links with a single pearl on one side and an amethyst on the other. The cross pendant has a large pearl in the center, which is flanked by two smaller pearls on each side, forming an "X". Seven large square amethysts and four smaller amethysts line the cross. On the opposite side, the pendant is lined with six pearls and a square amethyst is set in the middle.
ProvenanceBy 2018, Terry and Paul Somerson, Westport, MA; 2021, gift of Terry Somerson to the MFA. (Accession date: June 16, 2021)