“Art Deco design . . . was the style of an assertive modernity: bold, elegant, chic and impossible to ignore,” according to the writers of an Introspective story marking the movement’s 90th anniversary. That description applies perfectly to this onyx, sapphire and diamond ring, which also presents as very of-the-moment.
The piece is unsigned, but vintage and estate jewelry dealer Baume, which is offering the ring on 1stDibs, confirms that it is French and dates from 1925, the year in which the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes was held in Paris, bringing the style now known as Art Deco to worldwide attention.
“It’s a magnificent ring, very typical of the Art Deco period,” says Emilie Baume, a gemology and antique jewelry specialist at the firm. “During this period, it was common to find a combination of diamonds and onyx, but sapphires were much less common.”
The ring also displays other Art Deco characteristics: a high-contrast color combination and crisp, geometric forms. Moreover, it’s made of platinum, the metal of choice during the period, the perfect vehicle for the style’s complex designs and rectilinear patterns, often incorporating small diamonds arranged in immaculate grids.
Baume says the jewel was worn as an engagement ring; a family brought the treasured heirloom to the firm’s shop in Poitiers (about an hour from Paris). One imagines the original owner to have been a woman of incomparable style, ahead of her time. When newly minted, fresh from some anonymous French jeweler’s workshop, it would have appeared as a distinctly modern spin on a traditional toi et moi ring (the now-iconic engagement-ring style that originated in 18th-century France).
The same is true today, when the toi et moi ring is enjoying a bit of a renaissance.
Just as it did in the 1920s, the ring feels remarkably modern — and entirely chic. So modern, in fact, that for some collectors, it will call to mind the work of contemporary jewelry artists like Sean Gilson and Retrouvaí, both of whom favor embedding precious gems in hard stones like agate, lapis lazuli and onyx.
It also seems like a particularly magical choice for a New Year’s Eve proposal. Against the backdrop of smooth, polished onyx, the diamond and sapphire are like incandescent orbs lighting up the velvety darkness of a winter sky. At the stroke of midnight, time stands still. But somehow the past is there, too, enfolding the lovers in its secrets and stories.
