Antique Art Nouveau Ring with a Mississippi Pearl and Emerald in Gold, French, c. 1900

Flora and Fantasy

Antique Art Nouveau Ring with a Mississippi Pearl and Emerald in Gold, French, c. 1900

€ 2,590.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Description

This description was automatically translated from German. If you have any questions about this piece of jewellery, we will be happy to help!

Hardly any other period in the history of jewellery has been marked by such a drive for innovation as the years c. 1900, which gave rise to Art Nouveau. To free their vision from the traditional, repetitive forms of historicism, jewellery designers turned their gaze to nature with its myriad colours and shapes. Nature’s creative power was intended first to ground them, then to inspire them—yet this was not about faithful naturalism. Rather, nature was meant to spark the imagination and serve as a springboard into the innermost realms of fantasy—much like Symbolism in painting and literature, which also explored the depths of the human psyche through metaphors drawn from nature. This piece of jewellery, too, seems to have emerged from a dream. It was designed around a baroque natural pearl, which likely even served as the inspiration for the design. It is staged as a flower sprouting from a pale green emerald—which serves as a flower bulb—and framed by fantastical golden tendrils. Indeed, its silky luster is reminiscent of the surfaces of white petals. The use of a pearl in an unusual natural form is entirely in keeping with the design principles of Art Nouveau: for example, some famous jewels of the period, such as Wilhelm Lucas von Cranach’s Octopus and Butterfly for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, see here, were designed around Baroque pearls. The pearl set here belongs to a species that inspired numerous creative designs c. 1900: it is a so-called Mississippi pearl, a wild natural freshwater pearl from the Mississippi River in the United States. This river, which flows through the Southern states, is home to a species of mussel that produces wing- or petal-shaped pearls. A famous example of the use of these pearls in haute joaillerie is the chrysanthemum brooch created by Tiffany & Co. around 1904. As this ring in particular demonstrates, these pearls made their way to France via transatlantic trade—even back then, the jewellery industries of the major Western powers were closely intertwined. We discovered the ring in Paris. Its hallmark indicates that it was made in France, but outside of Paris.

Size & Details

Flora and Fantasy

€ 2,590.00 ^*

Content 1 piece

Incl. VAT, Shipping

Our Promise

We want you to be 100% satisfied! For that reason, we examine, describe and photograph all of our jewellery with the utmost care.

You can rely on our years of experience in the trade and our expertise as a professional art historians for reviews of the antique jewellery. As a member of various trade organisations and the British Society of Jewellery Historians, we remain committed to the highest possible degree of accuracy. In our descriptions, we always also indicate any signs of age and defects and never hide them in our photos – this saves you from any unpleasant surprises when your package arrives.

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