Birds were a natural subject for the wonderfully imaginative figural jewelry made by DeLizza & Elster.
Swans, ducks, peacocks, chicks, road runners, doves and even a very large fighting rooster all appeared in Juliana designs. And, as we so often find with D&E, knowing the basic design is only the beginning. Many of these birds were produced in different colors and with small construction variations that make them especially interesting to study.
Today, let’s take a closer look at some of the Juliana birds — and at a few of the little details that can help us understand how they were made.
The Elegant Swans
I have to begin with one of my personal favorites: the open-winged swan.
Compared with some of the more elaborate Juliana figurals, this design is almost understated. Its beauty comes from that wonderful sweeping shape and the way the open wings form the bird.
It is simply elegant.
There is also a second swan design — the swimming swan.
The swimming swan is smaller than the open-winged version and was made in different color combinations.
These two designs are a good reminder that when we talk about a Juliana “swan,” we are not necessarily talking about one particular brooch. D&E used the same subject in very different ways.
Ducks on the Move
Juliana collectors can also find more than one duck design.
There is a swimming duck as well as a running duck, and both can be found in different colors.
The pose itself becomes part of the design. One bird glides along; the other has considerably more personality and movement.
Birds on a Branch
One of the most interesting groups to study is the birds perched on branches.
At first glance they may simply look like different versions of the same idea, but look closely at the branches.
D&E used several different constructions.
Some birds sit on rhinestone branches.
Some sit on cast branches.
Others perch on branches formed from wire — both smooth wire and twisted wire. These are just a couple of the birds on branches designs.
These little differences are exactly the kinds of details collectors should learn to notice.
Color can change dramatically from one example to another, but construction often tells us much more about how a design relates to other Juliana pieces.
A Familiar Little Detail
There is another wonderful construction detail hiding among some of these birds.
Look at the rhinestones extending from the heads of certain birds.
Collectors who have studied Juliana cat figurals may recognize the idea. They are very much like the rhinestone “whiskers” found on some of the cats.
This treatment appears on more than one bird design, including birds on branches, the peacock and the road runner.
It is one of those tiny details that connects seemingly unrelated Juliana figurals.
Look at the Feet
Now look lower.
The road runner and the chick share a particular foot construction that is also found on some Juliana turtle figurals.
The peacock uses this same type of foot design as well.
This is one of my favorite things about studying D&E jewelry.
A bird and a turtle may seem to have very little in common, but when you begin examining the individual components, you start seeing the vocabulary of parts that D&E reused and adapted from design to design.
Taking Flight
Another group includes what collectors generally call the flying birds.
There are several designs and slight variations within this family, including differences in the wings. Like many of the other bird figurals, they can be found in numerous colors.
There are also two designs that have something of the same open-wing feeling as the elegant swan we began with: the peace dove and the spread-wing bird.
Placed together, these pieces show just how many different ways D&E could interpret a bird with wings in motion.
The Biggest Bird Of All
And then there is the fighting rooster.
This is the largest of the Juliana bird brooches shown in this group, and it is not one that turns up very often.
The scale alone makes it impressive, but the dramatic stance makes it hard to mistake for any of the more delicate bird designs.
It is definitely a bird with attitude.
The Owl — and the Bird That Isn't One
Finally, we come to the owl.
One actual D&E owl design uses Moroccan matrix cabochons accented with ball chain and can be found in several colors.
But this is also where Juliana terminology can get a little tricky.
There is another familiar group of all-rhinestone designs that collectors have long referred to as “owls.”
They certainly look a bit like owls, which explains how the nickname became attached to them.
But according to Frank DeLizza, they were not designed to be figural owls.
That distinction is worth remembering.
Collector names are useful, and sometimes they become so firmly established that everyone understands exactly what piece we mean. But a name used by collectors is not always the same thing as the original design intent.
And when Frank told us what D&E actually intended, I think that information deserves to remain part of the record.
The More You Look, the More You See
Bird figurals are fun to collect simply because there are so many of them.
But they are even more interesting when we stop looking only at the bird and begin looking at the construction.
The branch.
The feet.
The rhinestones extending from the head.
The shape of the wings.
The cast components.
The wirework.
Those small details connect one design to another and help us see the larger DeLizza & Elster design vocabulary hiding beneath all those wonderful colors and rhinestones.
And that is where studying Juliana becomes much more interesting than simply memorizing pictures.
Want to see more?
Explore the figural jewelry currently available at Our Vintage Rose Jewelry.