ART DECO MARZO PARIS TEMPLE PENDANT

Marzo was one of the elite, highly exclusive French jewelry houses operating during the height of the Belle Époque and Art Deco eras. The house was originally established by Spanish jeweler Lorenzo Marzo who arrived in Paris in 1892, the nephew of Francisco Marzo, jeweller to the Spanish Crown. He brought a profound mastery of classical design and craftsmanship. The firm famously operated from 22 rue de la Paix, Paris, alongside icons like Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. 

Marzo’s work was so exceptional that they served as official suppliers to King Alfonso XIII of Spain and earned high-society patrons across Europe and the Americas. The pinnacle of the house's renown came when they won the coveted Grand Prix at the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, the very exhibition that defined and named the "Art Deco" movement. Lorenzo Marzo died in 1929. The pieces he created,  few in number, exceptional in quality, were absorbed into private collections across Europe and beyond. Most have never resurfaced.

This extraordinary pendant is typical of Art Deco design sculpted to resemble an ancient classical temple facade, a common thematic choice during the interwar years when architects and designers stripped back historical forms into clean geometric lines. The pediment (the triangular roof structure) features a stunning geometric sunburst motif radiating outwards from a central point, showcasing the era's obsession with symmetry, linear precision, and rays of light.

What is astounding and technically arduous is that rather than using standard brilliant cuts everywhere, the house utilized calibre-cut stones (custom-cut gemstones shaped specifically to fit perfectly side-by-side into a channel). This technique creates smooth, seamless ribbons of color, seen here in the stark black onyx running along the architrave and base, and the rich pinkish-red rubies decorating the capitals of the columns.

The intense, light-absorbing black onyx serves as a dramatic structural border, directly contrasting with the brilliant, fiery refraction of the pavé-set diamonds and the sharp pop of green emerald at the apex. Constructed entirely out of Platinum, the preferred metal of the Art Deco elite because its strength allowed jewelers to use minimal metal, making stones look like they were floating.

More than a century after Lorenzo Marzo first brought his vision to the rue de la Paix, this pendant stands as a rare, surviving monument to a golden age.The temple facade enshrines the soul and ingenuity of the Roaring Twenties. Because so few of Marzo's creations have ever escaped the vaults of private collectors, this piece is not just a masterclass in Art Deco geometry, it is a ghost from a vanished world.

Designer: Marzo Paris
Materials: Platinum and Diamonds and Calibre-cut Onyx and Emerald and Calibre-cut Rubies
Period: Art Deco
Circa: 1920s-30s
Length: 73 x 43mm
Weight: 44 Grams
Made in France

*Chain sold separately