Squat Duckling (brooch)
circa 1970
(emerald, coral and
gold)
This piece immediately exudes a quality
typical of a gifted maker, rather than that of a knock-off artist. Price and
personal taste aside, the duckling is a character that pulls at each of our
likings, however different they may be. It is quirky, charming and elegant all
at once, and it seems about to trip over its two left feet like a blundering
little hatchling only just becoming used to the big new world around it. Its
eyes, too, seem independent from the rest of its body, as if they cause
difficulty in restraining the duckling's clumsy curiosity from making it waddle
around in circles, clearly unable to decide on which interesting thing to go
nibble on or quack at first.
Do we not all feel like this during at
least one point in our lives, let alone when we were actually children? There
are countless situations in which we catch ourselves privately wishing we could
behave just like this duckling, to let out the way we really feel, to show that we are a bit lost and confused. There is nothing more satisfying than, at times, shedding
our adult images and openly returning to our childish roots of reaction,
whether that be throwing a wild tantrum alone in the bathroom, breaking a few of
those ugly dishes or even purposely annoying the neighbours with a loud, off-tuned improvisation of a Queen song. Yes, being immature is selfish, but it is sometimes the only
way to continue being mature, to go on playing the adult. And it is nothing
but a comfort to come across a brooch as this and realise that, actually, it is all
okay.
