Fine Vintage Cluster Ring with a Colombian Emerald & Diamonds, c. 1985

With a history of appreciation as a precious gemstone stretching back thousands of years, the emerald occupies a distinguished place in the history of jewellery and adornment. Emeralds were already being mined in Egypt in pre-Christian times. These were the very stones that the ancient Roman author Pliny the Elder described in such enthusiastic terms: “No colour is more pleasing to the eye, for we look with delight upon green grass and foliage; but the emerald gives us even greater pleasure, since nothing can compare with the intensity of its green.” Pliny also referred to the stone as limoniades, after the nymphs of meadows and flowers. An emerald worthy of such a mythical garden of nymphs is also the centrepiece of the present ring. Weighing four carats, the gemstone is fashioned in an octagonal step cut and displays a rich, intense green colour. Its interior is characterised by lively natural inclusions, poetically known as its jardin – the French word for garden. These delicate inclusions bear witness to the stone's natural formation, untouched by human intervention. A gemmological report commissioned by us has established that the emerald originates from Colombia, a country long celebrated for producing some of the world's finest and most sought-after emeralds. The ring was made in the late 20th century, drawing upon a style of jewellery that had already enjoyed great popularity in earlier centuries. It is an example of the entourage ring, in which a coloured central gemstone is encircled by diamonds. Here, fourteen brilliant-cut diamonds, weighing approximately 2.30 carats in total, form a luminous border around the emerald, enhancing the remarkable intensity of its green. The high-carat yellow gold lends warmth and richness to the composition. We acquired this beautiful ring here in Berlin.

Estimate:£7,750.94

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