Of strong Modernist design, composed of a central square-shaped lapis lazuli plaque, to tapering rectangular-shaped platinum steps descending from opposing corners, accentuated by a red lacquer background, to a heavy...
Of strong Modernist design, composed of a central square-shaped lapis lazuli plaque, to tapering rectangular-shaped platinum steps descending from opposing corners, accentuated by a red lacquer background, to a heavy tapering yellow gold band, circa 1925, maker's mark for Georges Fouquet and indistinctly numbered. UK size J
Note: This ring has power from afar, its colourful components deliver a study in linear definition from the other side of a room. These were conditions that were of course central to the Modern jewellery manifesto of the late 1920s.
Jean Fouquet (1899 - 1984) was a dedicated Modernist and at the very forefront of the rejection of the intricate beauty of the Art Nouveau aesthetic, and the Belle Epoque period in general, which had prolifically permeated artistic jewellery at the beginning of the Century - thanks in great part to his father Georges Fouquet.
Thankfully, Georges Fouquet was a champion of jewellery as art. He understood that, as a reflection of the humans it adorns, jewellery has a duty to march in step with the fashion and art worlds with which it brushes shoulders...as a result he not only supported but actively encouraged the radical new direction that emerged at the hands of his son and other avant-garde artists in the mid to late 1920s.
This dexterity is reflected in Fouquet being a rare example of a house who produced work that exemplified the very best of two consecutive and opposing movements - aesthetically and philosophically.
As an independent family-run jewellery house with limited production, examples of this fascinating work are hard to come by. This ring is a particularly lovely example of not only this important house but a pivotal moment in jewellery history.