Ring thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Jewellery, Rooms 91, The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery

Ring

1901 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The curving lines and flowing hair of this female figure clearly show the influence of the Art Nouveau or Jugendstil movement on British jewellery design. It was designed and made by Albert Christian Carl Jahn (1865-1947) who was born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ludwig Louis Hartmann Adalbert Jahn, a ceramic painter and art director of the Minton China Works.

Albert Jahn won two gold medals in National Competitions as a teenage student at the Hanley School of Art, leading to a scholarship which allowed him to study at the National Art Training Schools (Royal College of Art). He won a travelling scholarship which gave him the opportunity to travel in mainland Europe and be exposed to the wider currents of art. After leaving art school, he became headmaster of the Wolverhampton Municipal School of Art and Crafts, a post which he held until 1905. In 1905, he moved to Sheffield where he became the principal of the Sheffield School of Art, one of the group of schools set up in industrial areas under the direction of the Department of Science and Art to provide artistic training for designers in industry. He died at his home in Dulwich, London on March 10, 1947.

This ring is part of a group of 7 art jewels by Jahn which were bequeathed to the museum by his wife Eliza Maria Jahn (neé Hunt) who died just a few months after him on 21 November 1947.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Chased gold set with an opal
Brief description
Gold ring with a shaped bezel in the form of a female figure holding an opal, designed and made by A C C Jahn. England, 1901
Physical description
Gold ring with a shaped bezel in the form of a female figure at the side of an opal
Dimensions
  • Height: 2.2cm
  • Width: 2cm
  • Depth: 2.1cm
Credit line
Jahn Bequest
Subject depicted
Literary referenceArt Nouveau
Summary
The curving lines and flowing hair of this female figure clearly show the influence of the Art Nouveau or Jugendstil movement on British jewellery design. It was designed and made by Albert Christian Carl Jahn (1865-1947) who was born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ludwig Louis Hartmann Adalbert Jahn, a ceramic painter and art director of the Minton China Works.

Albert Jahn won two gold medals in National Competitions as a teenage student at the Hanley School of Art, leading to a scholarship which allowed him to study at the National Art Training Schools (Royal College of Art). He won a travelling scholarship which gave him the opportunity to travel in mainland Europe and be exposed to the wider currents of art. After leaving art school, he became headmaster of the Wolverhampton Municipal School of Art and Crafts, a post which he held until 1905. In 1905, he moved to Sheffield where he became the principal of the Sheffield School of Art, one of the group of schools set up in industrial areas under the direction of the Department of Science and Art to provide artistic training for designers in industry. He died at his home in Dulwich, London on March 10, 1947.

This ring is part of a group of 7 art jewels by Jahn which were bequeathed to the museum by his wife Eliza Maria Jahn (neé Hunt) who died just a few months after him on 21 November 1947.
Bibliographic reference
'Albert Carl Christian Jahn', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011: http://web.archive.org/web/20230111162159/https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/%20person.php?id=msib4_1225119505
Collection
Accession number
M.80-1947

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Record createdNovember 4, 2005
Record URL
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