25 April 1921, Amsterdam, The Netherlands -

3 May 2006, Zürich, Switzerland

Karel Appel studied art at the Rijk's-Academie in Amsterdam during the Second World War from 1940 to 1943. In 1948 while living in Paris he became a founder member of the CoBrA group, the name taken from the initials of the members' home cities: Asger Jorn from Copenhagen Christian Dotremont and Joseph Noiret from Brussels, and Constant, Corneille and Appel from Amsterdam. The group promoted the use of vibrant colour, while incorporating grotesque imagery inspired by children's drawings of monsters and fantastic animals.

Jewels designed by Appel are exceedingly rare, the only other published piece in addition to the enamel pendant here is a gold, resin and acrylic brooch, Madame et son chat, produced in an edition of 5 for Diana Küppers by Atelier Maierhofer, Vienna (D. Küppers, Künsttlerschmuck. Objets d'or, Munich 2009, p. 15).