BOIVIN: SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND PANTHER RING, CIRCA 1993

Footnotes

The House of Boivin was founded in 1890 by René Boivin (1864-1917), initially as a workshop that manufactured jewellery for other historic French houses such as Boucheron and Mellerio. His wife, Jeanne was the sister of the famous couturier, Paul Poiret. After René's death in 1917, Jeanne took over the running of the business and established a new workshop with her daughter, Germaine Boivin and their designer, Juliette Moutard. The trio worked together for forty years and were joined by Suzanne Belperron as the firm's chief designer from 1921-1932. Inspired by the natural world and animal kingdom, one of their most famous and beloved designs was the 'Starfish' of 1936. Boivin was eventually acquired by the Asprey Group in 1991 before being taken over by Poiret in 1999.