Adam's FINE JEWELLERY & WATCHES 17th May 2022

41 The oval-shaped corallium rubrum cabochon coral within an openwork mount of textured wire, highlighted with bril- liant-cut diamonds, mounted in 18K gold and platinum, diamonds approximately 1.50ct total, signed Cartier Paris, numbered, with mak- er’s mark ‘P&Fils’ for Pery & Fils, French assay marks,with maker’s case, ring size K € 8,000 - 12,000 Maison Péry was established in 1875 by Lucien Péry, whose elegant gold chains attracted the attention of the jewellers housed in the place Vendome. The company was run by four generations of Péry’s, from Lucien’s sonAlbert to his grandson Bernard who was the father of the great Brigitte Péry who went on to manage the business for four decades. Albert’s work at during the first half of the 20th century was prolific, producing new designs almost every week. However, when theWWII broke out, Albert was taken prisoner and the workshop was closed for six years. Once the conflict ended, the production started again slowly, increasing in the 1950s, during which time Péry created some of Van Cleef & Arpel’s most iconic pieces, including the Domino jewellery sets and Ludo bracelets. Bernard Péry began to make connections with other jewel- lery houses and started collaborations, first with Paolo Bulgari, which lasted for two decades, followed by Cartier, Boucheron, Mauboussin,Templier andTiffany. Indeed, it seems there is no major jewellery house of the 20th century the Péry workshops did not produce for. Bernard’s daughter Brigitte was of similar business acumen and when she took over, she continued to pursue this strategy. Amongst her collaborators were Graff, Dior, Fabergé and Mi- kimoto. In 2008 she launched a large-scale training program for the workshops in order to promote innovation and mod- ernise the production techniques of the company. Adopting new design processes ensured versatility and allowed Maison Péry to compete on an international stage. In 2011, she final- ly decided to sell her family’s company to the then President of the Richemont Group, Stanislas de Quercize, thus officially combing Maison Péry into the fold ofVan Cleef &Arpels. ‘Jewellery always makes you dream,’ Brigitte explained in an interview with Olivier Bachet for IAJA, ‘To dream of those who wear them, what a pleasure and what a chance to be able to do so. And to dream of those who always make them with real passion.’ 60 A CORAL AND DIAMOND COCKTAIL RING, BY CARTIER, CIRCA 1955 * Please note that this lot contains coral and might be subject to CITES regulations when exporting outside of the EU.