Evening Primrose – Emerald Ring

Diamond runs along one side of every petal, and along the same side each time. Four petals turned to the same hand, and the line carries the eye around the flower — so a ring that never moves appears to be turning.

The petals are mother of pearl, carved one by one, domed rather than flat, each notched at the outer edge as a primrose petal is. They are cut as separate pieces and set to overlap slightly at the shoulders, so the flower layers as a living one does.

At the centre, a square emerald-cut emerald, claw-set in fine gold. Its stepped facets and open table hold colour in depth, and it is the one transparent, faceted thing in the ring, set among four opaque surfaces that treat light in exactly the opposite way: the emerald draws it in, the shell lays it along the curve.

Yellow gold throughout. Against mother of pearl it warms the nacre and draws out the cream; against green it deepens the emerald. In a ring working with two colours, the metal is effectively the third.

This ring has been sold to a private collector.