Amethyst Pyramid Ring

An amethyst sits at the apex of a silver pyramid in this ring, the stone crowning a stepped, architectural form. The pyramid is the point: rather than a flat or claw setting, Spratling built up a faceted silver mass and let the amethyst finish it at the top, an approach that reads as much as small sculpture as jewelry.

Amethyst was among the stones Spratling returned to throughout his first design period, its purple set warmly against polished silver. The geometric, built-up form of the ring connects to the pre-Columbian sources he drew on, where stepped and pyramidal motifs were part of the design language he translated into wearable silver.

Made at the Taller de Las Delicias he founded in Taxco in 1931, the ring carries the substantial, hand-wrought quality of that early production. With no recorded reference, its interest lies in the sculptural setting itself.