Deborah Aguado's citrine brooch is meticulously executed, beautiful, and highly wearable as a piece of jewelry. At the same time, as with all her work, there is a monumentality, which belies its actual physical size, experienced as perhaps a model of a large architectural or sculptural project.

In this brooch, measuring 3-1/4" wide by 1-3/4" high, the center dusky citrine, cut by Tom Munsteiner, presents a repetitive vertical laddering that is juxtaposed by Aguado's spare setting of cantilevered 18K gold panels in sterling silver squares. Illusion and perspective are the special interests of the artist that contribute largely to these results.