Aquamarine and diamond ring, France, mid 20^th century. By the late 1940s and 1950s, jewellery designs had gradually left behind the flat geometry of the Art Deco style, and developed a more curvilinear, voluminous style, reflecting the increasingly romantic, feminine fashions of the era. Coupled with this was a return to yellow gold, brighter colour palettes and a focus on larger stones. This dress ring, with its beautiful ribbonlike design and a large, clear aquamarine at its centre, complemented by cushion-shaped diamonds in contrasting platinum settings, is an excellent example of this classic era of jewellery design from France – the centre of European jewellery design.