A striking 18 ct. yellow gold and opal dress ring by Paloma Picasso for Tiffany & Co, from the Marrakech collection. Featuring a bold geometric floral pattern surrounding a large opal cabochon. 

Date: 1980

Stones: Opal

Size: 56.5/ P½

Weight: 13.2g

Hallmarks: 18k Gold, T&Co.AU750

Paloma Picasso brought her bold, graphic, colour-block style to Tiffany & Co in 1980, at the start of the post-feminist decade of power-dressing and statement jewels. The daughter of two artists, Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, Paloma studied design at the Université de Paris in Nanterre and designed theatrical costumes and worked for the Greek jeweller Zolotas in Athens, as well as for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. By the time she joined Tiffany, her own style was well defined: graphic, spontaneous, emulating the sketches she had made since childhood, and revelling in material: in warm, 'cocooning' yellow gold, and monumental, powerful coloured gems. At a time when New York's ever-present, ever-escalating graffiti was labelled as vandalism, Picasso's themes were inspired by its energy and spontaneity.