Ring of the night sky

A rather fabulous example of a bague au firmament ring, circa 1820 – 1830. The high carat gold ribbed and trifurcated shank supports a head set with a plaque of cobalt blue enamel surmounted by old cushion cut diamonds, within a surround of old cushion cut diamonds. Such rings gained popularity in France in the late 18th century as rings of the night sky – the enamel ground representing the night sky and the diamonds twinkling like stars. The diamonds here are unusually large and very clean and bright. The total diamond carat weight is approximately 5.8 carats and the centre diamond is in excess of one carat. The ring is size O [US 7] and the head of the ring measures 1 and 1/4 inches by 3/4 of an inch. An utterly gorgeous thing.

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