Jean Despres Rings

This exceptional Jean Despres ring in 18 karat planished gold features a high-rise sugarloaf cabochon lapis lazuli resting on decorative gold beadwork. It was made in c. 1940 and is ...

This 18k gold signet ring is designed by French Art Deco artist and jewelry maker Jean Després. At first glance, it is a classic signet ring engraved with simplistic geometric patte...

Composed of silver, lacquer and reverse painted and engraved crystal, this exceptional ring was a collaboration of two French modernist artists, Després and Cornault. The ring centers a glass crystal prism above a polychrome abstract-design painting in miniature by Cornault, mounted by Després within a silver and black lacquer surround, flanked by stepped and incised chevron form shoulders with subtle dark patination. Uniting an intriguing abstract painting with the geometry of interlocking planes and layered strata, this rare ring is powerful work of painterly and sculptural modernism. Product Details: Item #: R-21132 Artist: J Després and E Cornault Country: France Circa: 1930 Size: 6.75 (this ring can be sized; please contact the gallery for further information) Materials: Glace peinte/Reverse-painted crystal; Black lacquer; Silver Signed: "J. Desprès", "JD" maker's mark, French guarantee stamp for silver. Provenance: Given by the artist to his niece, and by descent in her family. Exhibition History: "Étienne Cournault (1891-1948)" at Musées de la Cour d’Or à Metz, 25 June to 24 October 1994. This ring was presented as number 94 in the exhibition catalogue. Literature: This ring appears in "Jean Després; Jeweller, Maker and Designer of the Machine Age", Thames & Hudson, 2009, by Melissa Gabardi, on p. 197. Macklowe Gallery Curator's Notes: This important ring is one of a small group of “Bijoux-Glaces” or “Mirror Jewels”. These jewels represent the collaboration between two French Modernist artists, Étienne Cournault (1891-1948) and Jean Després (1889-1980). Cournault was from Lorraine, and had been educated at L’Ecole de Nancy in graphic and applied arts. He was active in Paris as a painter, draughtsman, and print maker in the 1920s. Moreover, he was the premier practitioner of the rarified technique of reverse painting on crystal, which he elevated from a traditional decorative art by creating intriguing miniature paintings of Surrealist and Cubist inspiration. Cournault met Després, an accomplished silversmith who moved in the circle of Modligiani, de Chirico, Braque and Signac, when Jacques Doucet commissioned the artists to complete an ornate metal table...

Sculptural ring designed by Jean Després (1886-1980). Very rare collector's piece, created in Paris France by the artist goldsmith Jean Després, back in the 1950. This cocktail ring has been crafted with geometrics shapes in solid yellow gold of 18 karats and finished with hammered patterns. On top, with a platinum part for the setting of the diamond. Diamonds: Mount in a six-prongs setting, with 1 old European round cut diamond, 0.20 carats, F color, VS-2 clarity. Birthstone: Diamond for the month of April. Weight: 12.6 Grams, (8.07 Dwt.). Size: 8 sizeable. Measurements: 20 mm by 13 mm (Inches). Hallmarks: Stamped with French marks; the head of the eagle and the head of the dog for the assay and warranty of the 18kt gold and the platinum respectively, the maker's mark JP inside a lozange cartouche and signed by himself, "J. DESPRES". Jean Després was born in 1889 in Souvigny, Burgundy, from glass blower parents, Jean Després starts his apprenticeship with a Parisian goldsmith, friend of the family, in 1905. First an industrial drawer for the military aviation during World War I, he took over his parents’ shop in 1920 and launched his goldsmith and jeweler workshop. He revealed himself to be an innovative creator with a unique way to work metals, and with new drawn shapes never seen before. He participated to his first show in 1926 at the Salon des Indépendants. Many shows and exhibitions then followed, such as the Salon d’Automne, the Salon of Decorative artists, and the Tuileries Salon. Jean Després chooses massive shapes rather than the classical goldsmith ornaments and avoids the use of precious gemstones in his jewel collection. His jewel production is defined by necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings where metals are combined with ivory, lacquer, ebony, onyx and sharkskin. His goldsmith pieces are inspired by the aviation aesthetic, crafted using hammered metals, and ample, generous and modern shapes. In the 1940’s, Jean Després is nominated President of the Goldsmith Syndicate, after receiving the Legion d’Honneur, in 1938. The artist’s works will be collected in France and worldwide, even after his death in 1980. (Maison Rapin...