Description
A lovely piece of c1905 British Arts and Crafts design by the wonderful KATE EADIE, of Birmingham’s Vittoria Street School. The demand and interest in her pieces has really sky-rocketed over the last 18 months or so, meaning that the very rare pieces that do turn up, are usually quickly purchased and taken off the market again.
Kate was part of the Birmingham School of artists, designers and craftsmen and she was the muse and wife of Sidney Meteyard, the great Pre-Raphaelite painter in the same group. She often appeared in his paintings and was well-accepted to be his muse.
She was a staggeringly talented jewellery designer and maker, who received accolades even during her time at school, for the quality and detailing of her work. She was a contemporary of Bernard Instone and also of George Hunt at the school.
This ring is a hand-wrought, statement piece with a large opal cabochon. The opal has a muted lavender colour base with so many colour flashes, which I hope you can glimpse, despite the fact that opals are very difficult to photograph well. The tiny glittering flashes are abundant in reds and greens with the odd blue to purple flash in there too.
This ring displays many of Eadie’s typical features, her lovely, three petalled flowers on each shoulder on each shoulder of the double band, the copious squared teeth holding the opal in place and then a lovely detail I have seen a few times in her work, a halo to the stone in its setting where silver rope wire has been twisted in with gold wire to form the oval structure which really finishes off the ring beautifully. The gold threaded through gives a lovely alternating gold and silver finish to the rope work setting. The centre of the flowers are also gold.
At first this seems to be a more muted opal but once you move it around, you see the abundance of glittering flashes. A very pretty ring, pleasingly in a larger size.
This beautiful ring measures as approx a UK P.5 (US size 8). There is surface wear to the opal as you would expect in line with her age. Ready to wear or else to gift. I will send in a new ring box to keep her safe.
I will send by complimentary express courier internationally or else by Special Delivery within the UK. Box is for display purposes only. Thank you!
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