Unusual Ring with Opals and Diamonds in Silver on Gold, c. 1900 and later

In 1894, a correspondent for a famous jewellery magazine described the opal as “that exquisite stone with its fairy light dancing over its delicate surface.” For decades, the iridescent gemstone had been discredited as a bringer of misfortune. However, when magnificent opals from Australia reached Europe in the 1890s, society could not resist the gem’s mysterious beauty —for it fit so perfectly into a cultural milieu in which the enigmatic paintings of Symbolism, the decadent tales of Oscar Wilde, and the otherworldly poetry of Stefan George were being discussed. This ring seems tailor-made to showcase these qualities of the opal—even if that was not its original purpose, for it appears to have been reworked in an earlier era from a component of another piece of jewellery and combined with the opals to form a ring. The fact that this occurred early on is also evident in the ornamental, hand-crafted band, which, when viewed from the side, forms spiral tendrils. The opals, shimmering with every movement, mark the ends of the ring. Between them, curved leaves and tendrils wind their way, upon which diamond roses shimmer as if in a moonlit garden. The dynamic lines and the shape of the leaves reveal influences of the Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau styles, whose forms often overlapped at the turn of the century. We discovered this extraordinary ring in Paris; it bears French import marks, so we can say with certainty that it was not made in France but in a neighboring European country. The quotation is from Elsie Bee, “Through the Vista of Past Fashions,” *The Jewelers’ Circular*, Silver Anniversary (1894), pp. 78–81 (here p. 81).

Estimate:£2,030.13

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