Magnificent Museum Quality Gold & Pearl Cage Ring by ** Prize-Winning Paris – New York Designer Paul Koven, Mid Century Modern “Sculpture-to-Wear” 14K gold and pearls, 1960 **
This magnificent 14K solid gold and pearl Cage Ring – eminently mid-20th century – embodies a period of great creativity in jewellery design. During the era – extending over the 1950s through 1970s – many of the great designers and makers remained at the pinnacle… while a number of significant additional ones also emerged to redefine style for a new generation. However, one-and-all were “marked” by the “Art / Sculpture-to-Wear” movement which developed as “Fine Arts” artists, that include the likes of: Max Ernst, Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Hans Arp, Man Ray… applied their creative genius to jewelry design.
The concept found a receptive audience, as the artistically-designed jewellery trend uncovered a niche that turned into a demand both for big-name designers… as well as for innovative design and self-expressive jewellery. It’s a trend that has continued ever since.
This also was a period of prosperity marked by fashion and, one in which classic glamor returned to style. Designs remained sizable, but also were more open and fluid than the styles that preceded it… a dynamism that is fully embodied alongside “artistic value” in this exquisite collector piece presently offered for your consideration.
Size: Inside diameter approx. 17.12 mm / 0.674″; inside circumference approx. 53.8 mm / 6¾” N 13.75
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Marc Koven – designer
Marc Koven – who as a painter specializing in nudes and notably was the object of a 1957 one‐man show at the Lynn Kottler Gallery, later also turned to expressionistic sculpture in bronze. He originally came to New York City from Paris in 1940, where he established his jewellery studio on East 48th Street. One year later, his creations were being sold at Bergdorf Goodman who used his jewellery in their New York Times advertisements. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, Koven’s creations were featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Town and Country. He was regarded as an innovator in jewelry design and was the inventor of caged jewels— stones placed unset inside small gold cages (see historical image in the photos). Formal validation crowned Marc Koven’s work, and he was six times a winner of the coveted Diamonds International Jewellery Design Award. He also had a fashionable Paris jewellery shop on Avenue Victor Hugo.
