Reema, Age 4 in India

Shinde Jewels

From The Archive

Earrings

Rings

Necklaces

Tendril Dreams

Inspired by the style of the Art Nouveau movement, this one-of-a-kind ring features an elongated pear-shaped aquamarine with long leaves ribboning around the finger and over the stone. The aquamarine is further secured at the base by a textured sepal. The ring is 18K gold. 

Size: 7.5 with the option to resize. 

Please note the item will ship in four weeks.  

Inspired by a ring by Georges de Ribaucourt dated 1902 in the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris which caught my eye initially because it was arrestingly beautiful. But then the wheels in my mind started turning. The ring as it was produced at the turn of the twentieth century did not hold the stone securely, and the tip of the stone was unprotected, making it not only structurally unsound, but also dangerous. 

I wondered if it was a maquette, or a shop model, not intended for sale. Or perhaps it was produced for a special client, who was warned about the limitations of the ring. These are the elusive mysteries of the jeweled world. 

So I set about reproducing it so I could answer some of these questions. Is there a way to construct the ring without covering the tip? I could not figure out a way. I wonder if Ribaucourt left the tip exposed because there was no secure way to set a stone into the ring with the technology available then. Using new technology available to us now, we were able to cover the tip of the aquamarine and protect it, and ultimately assemble the ring so the stone is set securely. It was a lot of fun, but how I wish I could speak with Ribaucourt and answer the many questions raised. If anyone reading this could put me in touch with Evelyne Possémé, the curator at the MAD in Paris, I would be thrilled to solve this riddle.

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