French Vintage Sixties strong design artist Vendome platinum diamond ring

Although this French sixties ring can't seize each's heart, one should admit that this architectural unit with ascending brilliant cut diamonds and the platinum square exterior form with 3 baguette cut diamonds is a fundamental statement of jewellery art. Still with an escapist ambience, the overall image while wearing this ring is as if your own American dream is just at your fingertips.

As you've just read our own interpretation of this ring in the text above, we invite you to compare it to the fitting interpretation of its maker, Jean Vendome, below in the "Extra information"-section.
As according to the maker's mark and the unmistakable artistic language, this specific ring is one of the fifty unique pieces of the America collection by French jewellery designer Jean Vendome. This collection is described in the book "Jean Vendome: Un demi-siècle de création de bijoux contemporains" by Sophie Lefèvre (p.68-70), as well as in the book "Jean Vendome: Les voyages précieux d'un créateur" by Marlène Crégut-Ledué (p.80-87). In the image section, you can find both book covers.

Antique jewelry object group: ring

Condition: excellent condition
  -  (more info on our condition scale)

Country of origin: France

Style: Sixties (of the Twentieth Century) or more info on styles

Period: ca. 1960
  -  (events & facts of this era, poetry of this era, fashion of this era)

Material: platinum
  -  (more info on precious metals)

Diamonds: Two brilliant cut diamonds with a total estimated weight of approx. 0.20 crt., 14 single brilliant cut diamonds (also called 8/8) with a total estimated weight of approx. 0.42 crt. and three baguette (long rectangular) cut diamonds with an estimated weight of approx. 0.12 crt.
Note: All diamond weights, color grades and clarity are approximate since the stones were not removed from their mounts to preserve the integrity of the setting.

Total diamond weight: approx. 0.74 crt. (approximate color and clarity: G/H, vs/si)

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April.
  -  (more info on birthstones)

Hallmarks: The French control mark for platinum representing a dog's head that was in use in France from about 1912.
  -  (more info on hallmarks)

Weight: 8,60 gram (5,53 dwt)

Ring size Continental: 50 & 16 , Size US 5¼ , Size UK: J½

Resizing: Resizing is possible but because of the age of the ring we prefer to leave it untouched. We could make an additional inner ring so the ring itself is not harmed, for this work we have to charge. We cannot guarantee to make it on every size; so please ask in advance. Return policy on this ring is not valid anymore once this work has been done.
  -  (more info on ring sizes)

Reference Nº: 15267-0097

Copyright photography: Adin, fine antique jewelry

Extra information: Below (and followed by the English translation), you can read the exact excerpt about this collection from the book Lefèvre, S., (1999), " Jean Vendome: Un demi-siècle de création de bijoux contemporains ". Somogy éditions d'art, Paris (p. 68-70).

A priori, les motifs impruntés pour ses bijoux n'appartiennent pas vraiment au registre du figuratif, même si au premier coup d'œil on identifie une ville dans la bague Manhattan, une de ses créations majeures qui connaîtra un grand succès.

Dans la parure se trouvent toutes les caractéristiques de l'artiste. Datant des années soixante, la bague Manhattan est en or blanc et possède une forme sculpturale prépondérante. En l'examinant, on reconnaît immédiatement une ville de gratte-ciel, la nuit, où scintillent les lumières. Pour ce bijou aérien, Jean Vendome, s'inspirant de l'architecture new-yorkaise, réalise une ville où les vides ont autant d'importance que les pleins. " Ce qui se passe autour de moi peut me suggérer un forme. Je la ressens profondément, puis je l 'interprète. Ainsi, sans faire de dessin, je passe à la maquette directement, l'idée ayant fait naître une forme. "
La bague Manhattan sera la première d'une série consacrée à la ville américaine. Elle s'inspire de cartes postales, car Jean Vendome n'a pas encore visité les Etats-Unis. En se rendant dans ces villes, en visitant ces quartiers, il modifiera légèrement l'interprétation, et ensuite sont créées Brooklyn, America et Bronx. Manhattan est devenue une bague de collection.

Le joaillier se joue de la difficulté pour disposer quarante-deux diamants de petite taille, placés à des hauteurs différentes, sur de minuscules (voire invisibles) chatons. Le poids des pierres est faible, mais à ses débuts il ne dispose pas d'un stock important de diamants. Il compense cette contrainte -cette pauvreté, au sens de manque de moyens- par une imagination poétique d'une grande richesse artistique.
L'inégalité des diamants (certains très petits, d'autres moyens) et leur positionnement renforcent la légèreté sur le doigt et en font toute la force. Placés de façon apparemment aléatoire, ils donnent l'impression d'une " pluie de diamants " où espace, clarté et luminosité dominent. La forme sculpturale de la bague se prolonge jusqu'au bas de la monture par le graphisme façonné dans l'or.
Cette petite bague a tout de la grande ville et ne reprend sa dimension de minisculpture qu'au doigt de la personne qui la porte. C'est la sensation inverse de celle créée par les Nymphéas du peintre Claude Monet. En les observant, on s'imagine que Monet vit dans un immense jardin. Quelle déception en allant à Giverny et en y découvrant une mare minuscule ! Tout le génie du peintre est là. De Claude Monet à Jean Vendome, on évolue dans le monde de l'infiniment grand a l'infiniment petit. C'est ainsi que, plus on regarde Manhattan, avec les pierres et les vides qui la composent, plus les formes deviennent cristallines, se raccordent les unes aux autres et disparaissent en un sculpture.

Il existe cinquante modèles de cette bague, que Jean Vendome a arrêté de reproduire afin de " ne pas affaiblir, voire user, un modèle (qu'il) aime ".

English translation of the excerpt above:
Even if at first glance one can identify a city in the Manhattan ring -one of his most successful creations-, the abstract motifs in his jewellery do not really belong to the figurative arts.

In the jewellery set are all the characteristics of theartist. Dating from the sixties, the Manhattan ring is made of white gold and has a predominantly sculptural shape. When you look at it, you immediately recognise a city of skyscrapers, at night, where the lights glitter. For this aerial jewel, Jean Vendome, inspired by New York architecture, creates a city where emptiness is as important as fullness. " What is happening around me can suggest a shape to me. I feel it deeply and then I interpret it. So, without drawing, I go straight to the model, the idea having given birth to a form."
The Manhattan ring will be the first in a series dedicated to the American city. It is inspired by postcards, as Jean Vendome has not yet visited the United States. By visiting these cities, visiting these neighbourhoods, he will slightly modify the interpretation, and then Brooklyn, America and Bronx are created. Manhattan became a collector's item.

The jeweller plays with the difficulty of arranging forty-two small diamonds, placed at different heights, on tiny (even invisible) chatons. The weight of the stones is low, but at the start he doesn't have a large stock of diamonds available. He compensates for this constraint - this poverty, in the sense of lack of means - with a poetic imagination of great artistic richness.
The unevenness of the diamonds (some very small, others medium) and their positioning reinforce the lightness on the finger and makes it all the stronger. Placed in a seemingly random way, they give the impression of a "shower of diamonds" where space, clarity and luminosity dominate. The sculptural shape of the ring extends down to the bottom of the bezel through the graphics fashioned in gold.
This little ring has everything of the big city and only takes on its small dimension for the finger of the person wearing it. It is the opposite sensation to the one created by the Nymphéas by the painter Claude Monet. Looking at them, one imagines that Monet lives in a huge garden. What a disappointment to go to Giverny and discover a tiny pond! All the genius of the painter is there. From Claude Monet to Jean Vendome, one evolves in the world from the infinitely large to the infinitely small. Thus, the more we look at Manhattan, with the stones and the voids that compose it, the more the forms become crystalline, connect with each other and disappear into a sculpture.

There are fifty models of this ring, which Jean Vendome has stopped reproducing in order " not to weaken, or even wear out, a model (that he) likes ".

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