platinum 950, an old-cut diamond c. 2.90 ct, smaller old-cut diamonds, baguette and square-cut diamonds total weight c. 20.10 ct, length c. 18 cm, workmanship c. 1930, 64.8 g, original case
When 25-year-old Erwin Lang first participated in an exhibition of the Hagenbund - of which he was a member - together with Oskar Kokoschka and Egon Schiele in 1911, he had already completed a comprehensive education with Alfred Roller at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna (the forerunner of today’s University of Applied Arts). He became an extraordinarily versatile artist thanks to his many talents as a painter, book illustrator and designer. After several years as a prisoner of war in Russia, he returned to Vienna in 1920, where he came into closer contact with his half-brother Erich Köchert. The latter had enjoyed an international education in Paris, Antwerp and London, which gave him an extensive knowledge in the field of design, manufacturing and gemmology. The congeniality of the two led to a collaboration that lasted several decades.
While Erwin Lang’s first jewellery designs were still characterised by abstract, strictly geometric forms, his designs for bracelets, which were produced in large numbers at the end of the 1920s, show similarities with bobbin lace. Despite their width, they appear delicate and airy. The motifs are arranged symmetrically, not worked flat, but are like light garlands of individual elements. The bracelets are not worn on the wrist, but like cuffs on the forearm. Thanks to the two sides’ different lengths, they adapt to the wearer’s forearm.

See ill. B1102, p. 110, in: Dr. Irmgard Hauser-Köchert: Köchert Jewellery Designs 1810-1940 S.P.E.S. Firenze 1990