Jewelry

Gold ring with D-section hoop, plain on the interior and ornately decorated on the exterior in the form of a fluted column widening toward the shoulders with elaborate C-scroll ends. Applied to the shoulders are two sculptural female caryatid half-figures, draped, and emerging from a cartouche. These two figures flank the high bezel, with elaborate octagonal box setting, ribbed base, protruding notched edging, and tapering cusped mount with an open set diamond. The interior of the bezel is lined in platinum, intended to enhance the whiteness of the diamond. On the lower exterior of the hoop is the maker’s mark “WIESE” (used by Louis Wièse from 1890 to 1925), together with another lozenge-shaped maker’s mark on the right. To the left is the eagle’s head, the French guarantee mark for 18-carat gold used on goods manufactured in France. The ring shows age-related wear and remains in excellent wearable condition. 

Literature: 

In 1880, Louis Wièse (1852–1923) succeeded his father, Jules Wièse (1818–1890), in the family business. Jules had begun his career in Berlin before establishing an atelier in Paris in 1844, where he achieved considerable success and became one of the most respected gold- and silversmiths of his generation. Louis continued the production of jewelry in the Archaeological, Gothic, and Renaissance Revival styles which had been fashionable and for which the workshop had become renowned, even as new aesthetics such as the Louis Seize and Art Nouveau emerged during the Belle Époque. He recognized that historically inspired designs remained highly sought after by the family firm’s loyal clientele, and the business continued to flourish. Although he followed in his father’s footsteps, Louis developed a distinctive artistic voice of his own.  

His contemporary, the renowned jeweler and collector Henri Vever, praised him in his pioneering study of nineteenth-century French jewelry: “An exceptionally modest and truly talented artist, he continues to make the sort of jewelry on which his father’s reputation was founded” (Henri Vever, trans. Katherine Purcell, French Jewelry of the Nineteenth Century, London, 2001, p. 681). 

Louis Wièse was particularly celebrated for his gold jewelry, exquisite chasing technique, and superb craftsmanship—qualities eloquently exemplified in the present Renaissance Revival ring, with its high sculptural relief and refined detailing. The design follows the spirit of the French Renaissance with its ornamental scrollwork, caryatid figures, and distinctive bezel. The inspiration was drawn from prints and drawings published by artists of the sixteenth century, such as Daniel Mignot (active 1593-96) or Virgil Solis (1514-1562), to name but a few. At the time of Wièse, reprints of these books were readily available for goldsmiths to study. 

Jewelry by Louis Wièse in Archaeological, Medieval, and Renaissance Revival styles is represented in major museum collections, including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK), Cologne; and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (see exh. cat. Pariser Schmuck. Vom Zweiten Kaiserreich zur Belle Époque, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, 1989, pp. 94–109; for a Renaissance Revival ring in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, see no. 27).  

The Renaissance Revival ring in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, has a small and plain table-cut diamond, unlike the high quality and sumptuous old European cut diamond in this ring with an estimated weight of 1.72 carats. Similar in design with putti instead of caryatide figures is a diamond ring by Louis Wièse at the DIVA Museum for Diamonds, Jewellery and Silver, Antwerp, which is on loan from ADIN Fine Vintage & Antique Jewellery, Anwerp. 

For detailed information on the Wièse workshop, see Silke Hellmuth, Jules Wièse und sein Atelier. Goldschmiedekunst des 19. Jahrhunderts in Paris, Berlin, 2014. 

R-1178