Paul Robin: A gem-set stickpin, circa 1900

Modelled as a horse's head within a horseshoe frame, accented with a brilliant-cut diamond and circular-cut ruby eye, French assay and maker's mark (Terminal length: 1.5cm) Paul Robin (1843 –?) was apprenticed under his father Jean-Paul Robin and learned drawing from Eugene Julienne, one of the great designers of his time. According to Henri Vever, Julienne's drawing classes were attended by Paul Robin, Paul Legrand and Cartier among others. Maison Robin had been very successful since the 1830s and it was renowned for its meticulous craftsmanship and impeccable taste. Paul Robin Senior devoted many years of his life to researching the recipe for the matt gold colour in the English taste. He finally discovered it and applied it to his jewellery with great success. Paul joined his brother Edouard in the company Robin Frères from 1869 to 1880. He then filed his own hallmark in 1880, crossed out in 1914. The themes of the owl, the horseshoe and the serpent were developed in the work of Paul Robin in a variety of different forms: from earrings to brooches, through bracelets, cufflinks and pins, according to the archives of the Maison, kept at the National Museum of Decorative Arts. Literature: Paul Robin's horseshoe designs are illustrated in French Jewelry of the Nineteenth Century, Henri Vever, translated by Katherine Purcell, pp. 1015