Wide Aztec Ring

A wide ring built from three rows of open circles separating three sections of heavy carved-type ornament shows the early Taxco workshop treating a band as a small piece of architecture. The openwork circles let light through the metal while the carved sections give it mass, a deliberate alternation of solid and void around the finger.

The ring dates from the first design period, 1931 to 1946, the formative years of Spratling's Las Delicias taller in Taxco. Its presence comes from weight and pattern rather than any stone.

Wide carved rings of this kind are among the more sculptural survivals of early Spratling, prized by collectors for the way the design fills the hand.