Macklowe Gallery Jewelry Fashion Rings

A design dating from the 2000s, this Cartier "Panthère Griffe" ring is composed of 18K white gold and diamonds. It is designed as a bypass form of overlapping raised diamond pavé pan...

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...

Dating from the 1960s, this textured 18K gold bombé ring is composed of cabochon coral and diamonds. The high domed top is set with three graduating lines of oval cabochon corals fla...

This late Victorian 18K gold double snake ring set with a diamond and a sapphire was created in England in 1892. It is designed as two snake heads, each with an old European-cut diam...

Created in England around the turn of the 19th century, this 18K gold double snake ring is set with diamonds. Designed as two snakes with intertwined bodies and tapering tails, the double heads are set with tapering lines of old mine-cut diamonds. These sculpted, sparkling snakes stand...

This French ruby and diamond ring in platinum-topped 18K gold dates from circa 1910. The slender form centers a ruby surrounded by swirlin...