Open Leaf Designed Dome Ring in 14k Yellow Gold

The entire dome is built out of leaves — small pointed gold leaves on curving vines, pierced right through, so the ring is more open space than metal and you can see daylight through the head from any angle. Each leaf carries a raised central rib with a polished upper face, which means as the hand moves the light picks out a few leaves at a time instead of flaring off the whole dome at once. It is a wide, high dome that reads far heavier than 4.90 grams, because cutting the metal away takes out the weight without shrinking the shape. Nothing is set into it anywhere: the design is entirely cut and shaped gold.

Pierced botanical goldwork is a much older tradition than the solid sculptural domes of the eighties — leaves and vines have been the default ornament in gold since antiquity, and cutting them out rather than casting them solid is precisely what makes a ring this size wearable all day. That is the trade the design makes: the presence of a statement ring at a fraction of the weight on the finger, with no stones to loosen and no prongs to have checked. Wouldn't you rather have a big ring you forget you're wearing?