Lanvin Paris Disc Pendant Necklace — White Enamel and Gold-Tone, Late 1970s–Early 1980s

A large circular disc in mirror-finish gold-tone metal, its face divided by a raised vertical rail into two asymmetric fields, each inlaid with white enamel. The geometry is spare and exact — this is a formal composition in the Bauhaus tradition, concerned with proportion and the relationship between positive and negative space rather than with decoration. The white enamel is pristine. The mirror finish is clean. The snake chain is original and matching: tightly coiled, smooth, the correct weight for a pendant of this scale.

This is the third Lanvin piece in the PSV archive, and the one that clarifies the design argument of the other two. The chevron collar and the black-and-gold chevron pendant establish the house's commitment to geometric severity. This disc pendant establishes something else: that the same intelligence was capable of restraint as well as intensity. White enamel against mirror gold is not a simple choice. It requires the object to hold its formal argument without the drama of color contrast. This one does.

Authentication: LANVIN PARIS © — oval cartouche stamped directly into the metal on the reverse of the disc. Same mark as the chevron pendant, different application: here it is part of the object rather than attached on a separate hangtag, which is consistent with a more refined production standard for pieces conceived as self-contained formal objects.

Read the full article in the PSV archive →

Details

Designer:  Lanvin Paris

Era:  Late 1970s–early 1980s

Material:  Mirror-finish gold-tone metal, white enamel

Form:  Large circular disc pendant, vertical rail division, asymmetric white enamel fields, snake chain

Signature:  LANVIN PARIS © — oval cartouche stamped on reverse of disc

Condition:  Like new. White enamel pristine. Mirror finish clean.