14k gold, sterling silver sculpture by Xavier Gonzalez.Total height 17.5" base 3.5" x 5.25".This work is unsigned, but it came from the collection of painting, sculpture and jewelry by Xavier Gonzalez and his artist wife, Ethel Edwards,that was given to the Art Students League of New York,by the Gonzalez family after Xavier's passing, and is being sold to raise funds for future student scholarships.The sale of this work with directly benefit the Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Gonzalez Memorial Fund.Both Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards were at one time teachers at the Art Students League.David Killen Gallery is proud and excited to partner with the Art Students League of New York in selling these works, which have been in storage for a number of years, and prior to that, in the collection of the Xavier Gonzalez and Ethel Edwards family.Although first thought to be a metal sculpture, David Killen Gallery has tested the large insects and leaves on this sculpture, and it has been identified as 14k gold(insects) and sterling silver(leaves).The work is unsigned, but the family has identified the work as by Xavier Gonzalez and this work with be accompanied with a letter of provenance from the David Killen Gallery.Xavier Gonzalez, as well as being a painter and sculpture, was a jeweler, jewelry designer and jewelry maker.Each insect is 3.5 inches long, but we cannot give the weight on the insects, they are attached to the flower.We guarantee the gold and silver on this item.//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(From Wiki):"Xavier Gonzalez (1898–1993) was an American artist. He was born in Almeria, Spain.[1] He lived in Argentina and Mexico for some time, and was planning on becoming an engineer in a gold mine.[1] In 1925, he immigrated to the United States.Gonzalez began his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1921 to 1923, and his uncle, José Arpa, studied with him there. He also studied at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, as well as in Paris and in the Far East. In 1931, Gonzalez became a US citizen, and in 1935, he married fellow artist Ethel Edwards (1915–1999), who was seventeen years his junior and also his student at Newcomb College.[2] He often worked and studied with fellow artist Julius Woeltz, who was the best man at his wedding.[3] Gonzales commandeered the canteen wall at Newcomb for the use of his art students.Gonzalez's works have been displayed throughout the United States, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also well known in Paris, Venice, Brussels and Tokyo. He taught art at Tulane University, the Brooklyn Museum, Case Western Reserve University, and the Newcomb Memorial School of Art, and was the director of the art school at Sul Ross State Teachers College in Alpine, Texas. In 1953, he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, then became a full Academician in 1955. He illustrated a children's book called "He Who Saw Everything, The Epic of Gilgamesh" by Anita Feagles (1966).Gonzalez died of leukemia in 1993, at the age of 94, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City."

Good condition overall, some of the metal is tarnished and darkened from age.There is the chalky white residue of some silver polish on some of the leaves.