Monique Pean Ring

Award-winning jewelry designer Monique Péan is known for drawing heavily on nature for her eye-catching and provocative rings, earrings, necklaces and other accessories, which feature exquisite arrangements of petite pavé conflict-free diamonds as often as they do fossilized dinosaur bones and meteorites.

While her minimalist designs might call to mind art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Péan travels all over the world and finds inspiration in locales such as Antarctica as well as in Mayan architecture — her jewelry transcends time and space to remind us all to question our place and purpose in the universe.

Péan originally had a career in finance. While the Washington D.C. native was working at Goldman Sachs in Manhattan, she received the devastating news that her sister, Vanessa, was killed in a car accident. She began to reevaluate her life and her relationship with work, and her passion for the arts and travel was renewed. In 2006, she launched her eponymous jewelry line. 

Over time Péan has traveled to places like Easter Island and the Arctic Circle and has worked with indigenous communities to gather unconventional materials such as cosmic obsidian and fossilized walrus tusks to incorporate into her sculptural jewelry. While this has led to a deepening of her interest in the natural world, she’s also had firsthand experiences with how unearthing these materials can affect the planet and the people in places such as Alaska and the southwestern United States.

“The effects mining has on communities and the environmental toll made me want to give back and to use my work as an opportunity to have a conversation around the global water crisis and the people connected to it,” says Péan, who donates a percentage of her profits to charity: water.

High-profile enthusiasts of Péan’s jewelry include actresses Natalie Portman, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Lawrence and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue and the New York Times.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Monique Péan rings, earrings and necklaces.

Antique and vintage rings have long held a special place in the hearts of fine jewelry lovers all over the world.

No matter their origin or specific characteristics, rings are timeless, versatile accessories. They’ve carried deep meaning since at least the Middle Ages, when diamond rings symbolized strength and other kinds of rings were worn to signify romantic feelings or to denote an affiliation with a religious order. Rings have also forever been emblematic of eternity.

Over time, rings have frequently taken the form of serpents, which have long been associated with eternal life, health and renewal. Italian luxury jewelry house Bulgari has become famous for its widely loved Serpenti motif, for example, and its Serpenti ring, like the other accessories in the collection, began as an homage to jewelry of the Roman and Hellenistic eras. The serpent is now a popular motif in fine jewelry. Jewelry devotees have long pined for rings adorned with reptiles, thanks to antique Victorian rings — well, specifically, Queen Victoria’s illustrious engagement ring, which took the form of a gold snake set with rubies, diamonds and an emerald (her birthstone). Designs for Victorian-era engagement rings often featured repoussé work and chasing, in which patterns are hammered into the metal.

Engagement rings, which are reliably intimidating to shop for, are still widely recognized as symbols of love and commitment. On 1stDibs, a range of buying guides can be found for those in the market for antique engagement rings, vintage engagement rings or Art Deco engagement rings. 

The most collectible antique engagement rings and vintage engagement rings are those from the Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco eras. Named for the monarchies of the four King Georges, who in succession ruled England starting in 1714 (plus King William’s reign), antique Georgian rings, be they engagement rings or otherwise, are also coveted by collectors. Pearls, along with colored gemstones like garnets, rubies and sapphires, were widely used in Georgian jewelry. The late-1700s paste jewelry was a predecessor to what we now call fashion or costume jewelry. 

The Art Nouveau movement (1880–1910) brought with it rings inspired by the natural world. Antique Art Nouveau rings might feature depictions of winged insects and fauna as well as women, who were simultaneously eroticized and romanticized, frequently with long flowing hair. Art Deco jewelry, on the other hand, which originated during the 1920s and ’30s, is by and large “white jewelry.” White metals, primarily platinum, were favored over yellow gold in the design of antique Art Deco rings and other accessories as well as geometric motifs, with women drawn to the era’s dazzling cocktail rings in particular.

Whether you’re hunting down a chunky classic for a Prohibition-themed cocktail party or seeking a clean contemporary design to complement your casual ensemble, find an exquisite collection of antique, new and vintage rings on 1stDibs.