Acquired for The Goldsmiths’ Company Collection
We are delighted to announce that The Goldsmiths’ Company Collection has acquired Jacqueline Ryan’s Primavera Brooch. This brooch featured in Jacqueline Ryan’s exhibition – On The Surface– as part of the International Festival in August 2019.
The Primavera Brooch - which in Italian means Spring - was intended as a celebration of the natural world in all its splendour and beauty, especially at this time of the year when plants are growing, flowers budding and everything is set to explode in vibrant colour. I wanted to celebrate and recreate the flush of colour that is so typical for the month of May in Italy when parks, gardens, fields and woodlands explode with life and colour just before the dry, hot Mediterranean summer sets in.
Jacqueline Ryan, March 2020Therefore, how ironic that in spring of 2020, nature has seemingly turned on us unleashing all its fury on humanity. In such unsettling and unprecedented times and just over two weeks into Italy's lockdown measures against the Coronavirus (followed by similar lockdowns in other countries), I could not be more delighted and honoured for such support from The Goldsmiths' Company in acquiring my Primavera Brooch, which will join my other brooch and necklace in the prestigious collection.
Jacqueline Ryan - On The Surface
On the Surface, August 2019, was Jacqueline Ryan’s first major presentation with The Scottish Gallery since the seminal exhibition Art Jewellery by Jacqueline Ryan and Giovanni Corvaja twenty years ago. Jacqueline has lived and worked in Italy since 1992 and has been based in Todi, in the Umbrian region of Italy since 2001. Her jewellery is an elegant fusion of English restraint combined with a sophisticated Italian language of structure, articulation and painterly colour.
Jacqueline’s work is a homage to the natural world, a poetic combination of colour and form. Her flawless technique incorporates a lifelong study of enamelling and her goldsmithing has a timeless quality that speaks of ancient Etruscan jewellery. Her palette and inspiration is drawn from la dolce vita and the Umbrian landscape surrounding her. Beauty is an essential part of her jewellery making as is her innate understanding of the human form: meticulous models are created and coloured before the final work is made and when worn, her jewellery transforms the wearer.
Jacqueline Ryan, March 2020I have a lifelong passion for flowers and everyone who loves gardening and the outdoors knows that nothing compares to the time of year when everything is awash and alive with colour and scent. With the Primavera Brooch I really just wanted to capture that moment in time.
The piece, which is very free, consists of a forged, gently curving oval convex dish form which holds the slightly moveable enamelled parts in place. The back of the brooch is made of a matching oval shape which mirrors the front. I assembled the coloured elements with the same amount of spontaneity and joy with which a florist might create a mixed spring bouquet.
Jacqueline Ryan has created a unique place in contemporary jewellery underpinned by her signature use of enamel and technical understanding of gold. Her work is represented at the most prestigious art fairs in the world and is sought by private collectors and public collections alike.
Publication Available
If you missed On the Surface in August 2019, you can still explore Jacqueline Ryan’s entire collection and immerse yourself in the exhibition by purchasing the accompanying publication here.
You can read more about Jacqueline Ryan and view the current collection on our website here.
