Ring with Head of an Owl
, Designed by Margaretha Dubach, Switzerland; made by Gübelin, Lucerne, 1969-70
Ring with Head of an Owl
Description
WHIMSICAL OWL RING BY SURREALIST MARGARETHA DUBACH
Wide gold band, plain on the interior and mottled on the exterior, with shield-like ornaments in relief at the shoulders supporting a flat, hollow bezel in the form of a stylized owl’s head rendered in relief: spiral rings form the eyes, a V-shaped motif the beak, globules the chin, crown-like projections the eyebrows, and antenna-like ear tufts. Marked with the designer’s initials “MD” in a square (Margaretha Dubach), the maker’s mark of Gübelin (G with stylized hourglass logo), and ‘750’ (18ct gold). Produced in an edition of five. The ring is in excellent condition and wearable.
Literature
This whimsical ring of a stylized owl’s head is the design of the Swiss Surrealist Margaretha Dubach. Dubach (b. 1934) studied at the School of Applied Arts in her native Lucerne under the Swiss Surrealist Max von Moos (1903–1979), who, she later recalled, “opened my eyes to the different, the contrasting, and the unexpected.” This fascination with the unexpected has remained influential to her remarkably diverse oeuvre, spanning painting, sculpture, collage, installation, performance, and jewelry design. Inspired by the folklore, woodlands, and Catholic traditions of her happy childhood in rural Lucerne, Dubach has a love of storytelling and imaginative invention. Nature and art merge in her playful creations, which transform objets trouvés and materials with previous lives—such as fabric, animal bones, plants, wood—into new forms. In 1969, she married the psychiatrist and author Jürg Will (1934–2019) and moved to Zurich, where she continues to live and work today.
The owl motif of the present ring reflects Dubach’s fascination with masks, eyes, folklore, and the supernatural. Since Antiquity, the owl has carried rich and often contradictory meanings: sacred to Athena and associated with wisdom, it later became linked to night, darkness, death, witchcraft, and the supernatural, making it a favored motif among the Surrealists. In Dubach’s native Switzerland, the ring also evokes with folklore in which the bird appears as both giver and taker of life.
In 1968, Dubach was commissioned to design jewelry for the House of Gübelin, the Swiss family-owned firm founded in 1854 and renowned for its fine jewelry, gemstone expertise, and internationally recognized gemological laboratory. Under Walter Gübelin (1914–2010) and his son Thomas (b. 1948), the historic firm entered a new period of experimentation in which jewelry stood at the forefront of avant-garde design. Gübelin embraced new trends and collaborated with talented Swiss artists, including Dubach. One of her creations for the firm is now displayed in the Gübelin Gem Museum in Lucerne, which opened in 2023. For further information on Margaretha Dubach and the Gübelin Gem Museum, see Antoinette Riklin-Scheibert, Schmuckzeichen Schweiz 20. Jahrhundert / 20th Century Swiss Art Jewelry (St. Gallen, 1999), pp. 68, 75, figs. 106–108; Beatriz Chadour-Sampson and Patrick Pfannkuche, ‘A New Museum in Lucerne: The Gübelin Gem Museum’, Jewellery History Today, 49 (Winter 2024); and Margaretha Dubach’s official website (https://www.margaretha-dubach.ch/)