A Dior cocktail ring with a large aquamarine
18k gold ring with pierced shoulders and openwork scuptural bezel formed as rising flames set with around 215 tiny brilliant-cut diamonds surrounding a very large fine step-cut aquamarine of 129.33 ct (34.10 x 26.10 x 19.6 mm). The band set with an original inner ring to keep the ring in place on the finger. Stamped: Parisian guarantee mark for gold, maker's mark. Signs of wear to the band, one small diamond lacking. Bezel 3.6 x 2.9 cm. Weight 76.9 g.
Dior, Paris. Designed by Victoire de Castellane. Custom made for Angelica Blechschmidt.
Angelica Blechschmidt passed away in August of this year (Dresden 1940s - Potsdam 2018). She was editor in Chief of Vogue magazine in Germany from 1989 - 2003 and during this time she greatly influenced the perception of fashion in the country. In one of the last interviews that Christian Boros ever held with Angelica Blechschmidt, she spoke about her love of big rings. “I love aquamarine, this watery blue, like the ocean. I commissioned two jewellers to find me the biggest aquamarine that they could… At the same time, I was offered another aquamarine - shaped like a coffin and much, much too large for a ring. Impossible. But at the next Paris show I went to Dior and asked the head of the company to make it into a ring for me. In the following months, Dior's jewellery designer Victoire de Castellane sent us countless designs. It took forever. Two whole years. But then I got a design that I loved. I called Victoire and said she could begin immediately. However, it needed a few little diamonds in the flames at the sides.” (cit. "die dame", Autumn/Winter 2017, p. 67).
Provenance
Estate of Angelica Blechschmidt, Potsdam.
Literature
Cf.: Angst ist das falsche Wort, Christian Boros spricht mit Angelica Blechschmidt, Zeitschrift "Die Dame", ed. Christian Boros, Autumn/Winter 2017, p. 60 ff.