Georgian Emerald Heart Cluster Ring

A darling c. 1760 Georgian Rococo heart-shaped cluster ring, set with a pear-cut emerald within concentric halos of smaller pave-set old mine cut diamonds and emeralds. The posterior is rayed per 18th c practice, but further stylized in the form of a Rococo shell. The original knife edge shank has been preserved. Nearly all late Rococo gemstone clusters take the form of a larger central stone framed by two concentric halos; this design can be seen on jewels from rings to buttons to bodkin hair pins. 18th century Georgian cluster rings of the present form are well-documented: a green paste and pearl version is in the British Museum (British Museum AF.2192), while an emerald and diamond example sold at Woolley and Wallis in 2019; a ruby and diamond variant is illustrated on p. 56 of “Brilliant Impressions: An Exhibition of Antique Paste and Other Jewelry” by Diana Scarisbrick, while yet another (reshanked) can be found on p. 259 of “Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love, and Loyalty” by the same author. Nearly all examples of this type is defined by the minimalist elegance of a clean knife-edge shank; this feature, along with the clean collet setting along the ring head, represents a transition from Rococo flamboyance to Neoclassical reserve. The present ring is a lovely example in that the ring head further adopts a pear shape, which was the standard 18th century shape for bejeweled hearts.
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