Zircon Art Deco

Fascination with the Jazz Age is endless, and even today jewelry designers continue to be inspired by authentic Art Deco jewelry and watches.

The Art Deco period, encompassing the 1920s and ’30s, ushered in a very distinct look in the design of jewelry. There were many influences on the jewelry of the era that actually began to take shape prior to the 1920s. In 1909, Serge Diaghilev brought the Ballet Russes to Paris, and women went wild for the company’s exotic and vibrant costumes It’s no wonder, then, that jade, lapis lazuli, coral, turquoise and other bright gemstones became all the rage. There already existed a fascination with the East, particularly China and Japan, and motifs consisting of fans and masks started to show up in Art Deco jewelry.

However, the event that had the greatest influence on Deco was the excavation of the tomb of King Tut in 1922. When the world saw what was hidden in Tut’s burial chamber, it sent just about everyone into a frenzy. Pierre Cartier wrote in 1923 that “the discovery of the tomb will bring some sweeping changes in fashion jewelry.” And he couldn’t have been more right. “Egyptomania” left an indelible mark on all of the major jewelry houses, from Cartier to Van Cleef Arpels, Boucheron and Georges Fouquet. (Cartier created some of the most iconic jewelry designs that defined this era.)

While a lot of Art Deco jewelry was black and white — the black coming from the use of onyx or black enamel and the white from rock crystal and diamonds — there is plenty of color in jewelry of the era. A perfect accent to diamonds in platinum settings were blue sapphires, emeralds and rubies, and these stones were also used in combination with each other.

Many designers employed coral, jade and lapis lazuli, too. In fact, some of the most important avant-garde jewelers of the period, like Jean Després and Jean Fouquet (son of Georges), would combine white gold with ebony and malachite for a jolt of color.

A lot of the jewelry produced during this time nodded to current fashion trends, and women often accessorized their accessories. The cloche hat was often accented with geometric diamond brooches or double-clip brooches. Backless evening dresses looked fabulous with sautoir necklaces, and long pearl necklaces that ended with tassels, popular during the Edwardian period, were favored by women everywhere, including Coco Chanel.

Find unique Art Deco necklaces, earrings, bracelets and other jewelry on 1stDibs.

Zircon is a magnificent and underrated natural gemstone that has been worn and adored for centuries. The rainbow of colors and the stone’s double refraction of light makes antique and vintage zircon jewelry and watches especially versatile and attractive for wearers all over the world.

Imagine if you could capture the sky, encircle it with diamonds and hold it in your hand. The magic of blue zircon rings is like that, a piece of sky slipped onto your finger. It isn’t just its sumptuous cerulean blue, with a depth that seems to stretch into forever; or the fact that blue zircon changes color with the sun, growing lighter until it is placed again in darkness; or even that zircon in its many colors is itself nearly as old as the earth, if not the heavens, dating back 4.4 billion years on a planet that is 4.5 billion years old.

Rather, the real splendor of zircon jewelry — zircon rings, necklaces, earrings and other accessories — is its scintillation, its extraordinary sparkle, what Reshma Kothari of Diagem Imports, or DGI, calls its “brilliance and impressive fire, with flames of color that give off a lot of sparkle and shine — more so than other colored stones.” Indeed, notes jeweler Paolo Costagli, “because of its sparkly appearance, zircon lends itself to be worn as a single accessory. If you have a nice large zircon cocktail ring, you don’t need anything else.”

While blue zircons are the most frequently sought after, zircons stand out from most other gems in that, like diamonds, they can be found in several colors, from oranges and yellows to greens to pinks and reds. All except white zircons are lightly heat treated to create or enhance their colors, though nearly all are naturally pleochroic.

Keep in mind that for all its versatility and allure, zircon is not a stone best worn every day. The gem registers 7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means that while harder than many other gemstones, it can chip more easily than rubies, sapphires and diamonds.

Find a collection of antique and vintage zircon jewelry and watches on 1stDibs.