See more objects with the tag sculptural, twisted, curved, folded.

Object Timeline

1955

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2024

  • You found it!

Ring

This is a ring. It was designed by Claire Falkenstein. It is dated ca. 1955 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is folded sheet silver, bent silver wire. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Sculptor Claire Falkenstein was par of the burgeoning post-World War II art scene influenced by European Modernism. She worked with many different processes and media, maintaining a unique and distinctive style across materials. Falkenstein applied her metal-welding skills to enclosing space in dense cage-like and folded wire structures as evidenced in this highly sculptural silver ring reminiscent of curling ribbon.

This object was donated by Susan Lewin. It is credited The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

  • Ring
  • copper, silver.
  • Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eitel Groeschke in memory of Pauline and Frank Rebajes.
  • 1990-138-6
  • Border (USA)
  • machine-printed.
  • Gift of Scalamandre.
  • 1990-84-42
  • Poster, Okay, Bye
  • four-color offset lithograph on white paper.
  • Gift of Geoff McFetridge.
  • 2017-25-1

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

  • N/T 1185 Tiara
  • silver wire, pearl, mother-of-pearl, smoky quartz, quartz crystal.
  • Museum purchase from Sara Cooper-Hewitt Fund.
  • 1997-43-1

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 2.4 × 4 × 4.8 cm (15/16 × 1 9/16 × 1 7/8 in.)

It has the following markings

Various marks including: incomplete STERLING on interior of band to the left and above partial maker's mark. F near edge of flattened wire of band, also partial FALKENSTEIN with FALKEN partially visible and STEIN clearly visible.

Cite this object as

Ring; Designed by Claire Falkenstein (American, 1908 - 1997); folded sheet silver, bent silver wire; H x W x D: 2.4 × 4 × 4.8 cm (15/16 × 1 9/16 × 1 7/8 in.); The Susan Grant Lewin Collection, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; 2017-2-2

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Jewelry of Ideas: Gifts from the Susan Grant Lewin Collection.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/554917291/ |title=Ring |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=22 December 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>