Pomellato Ritratto
Pomellato Ritratto
The Milanese house's gallery-style cocktail-ring collection — large emerald-cut centres, framed in colour
Ritratto — Italian for portrait — is the Pomellato collection devoted to oversized cocktail rings built around a single emerald-cut coloured gemstone, framed by pavé-set diamonds or contrasting coloured stones. The name is literal: the central gem is presented as a portrait, with the surrounding pavé acting as a frame that draws the eye to the table of the stone. Centre stones typically range from approximately 10 to 30 carats and the species are drawn from Pomellato's stable of semi-precious gems, with selected high-jewellery editions stepping into more valuable material.
Design language
The collection's silhouette is unambiguous. A rectangular emerald-cut stone — blue topaz, amethyst, citrine, prasiolite, lemon quartz, or tourmaline are the most common species — is set in a substantial 18-karat gold mounting, with one or more concentric rows of pavé-set diamonds tracing the perimeter. The pavé is hand-set into milled seats with each round brilliant individually positioned. The result is a piece designed to be the focal point of an outfit, not a layered or stacked component.
Selected Ritratto editions invert the colour relationship — a colourless centre with coloured pavé, or a coloured centre flanked by coloured stones rather than diamonds. The design vocabulary is broader than the standard configuration suggests, and the house has used Ritratto as a vehicle for occasional high-jewellery interpretations with significant centre stones in tanzanite, aquamarine, and beryl varieties.
Position within the house
Pomellato was founded in Milan in 1967 and Ritratto sits within the house's broader collection logic alongside Nudo, M'ama Non M'ama, Sabbia, and Iconica. Where Nudo strips ornament back to a bezelled cabochon and Iconica works in the language of architectural gold links, Ritratto occupies the maximalist end of the house vocabulary — large stones, framed presentation, and a deliberate refusal of the precious-stone hierarchy that traditionally reserved gallery-style settings for diamonds, emeralds, and rubies.
The collection's commercial significance is closely tied to Pomellato's broader argument about colour. By presenting a 25-carat blue topaz with the same gallery treatment a competing house would reserve for an emerald, Pomellato consistently asserts that scale and saturation are valuable independent of species rank — a position that has shaped a generation of Italian coloured-stone retailing.
Construction
The mounting is 18-karat gold in rose, yellow, or white tonality, with rose dominating commercial output in keeping with Pomellato's broader house preference. The centre stone is claw- or bezel-set into a deep gallery seat, with the pavé surround applied to the top face of the gallery. Diamonds in the pavé are typically D–F colour and VS clarity. The shoulders of the ring widen to support the visual mass of the centre stone, and the inner band is finished smoothly so that the substantial mounting wears comfortably.
In the trade
Ritratto pieces appear with some frequency in the auction and pre-owned market, often as significant single objects rather than as part of larger collection-disposal lots. Buyers should examine three points: the integrity of the pavé seats around the gallery perimeter, the absence of abrasions on the table of the centre stone (amethyst and topaz are particularly vulnerable in cocktail-ring use), and the security of the centre stone within the gallery. A Ritratto with a loose centre or with chipped pavé seats is a workshop case; an original-condition example with documentation trades at a meaningful premium.
Care
Mild soap and warm water with a soft brush is the appropriate cleaning method, taking care to flush the underside of the gallery where lotion residues collect. Ultrasonic cleaning should be avoided for amethyst, topaz, citrine, and tourmaline centre stones, where vibration and thermal shock can damage the gem. The pavé surround tolerates careful ultrasonic, but with a coloured centre stone the conservative approach is to clean by hand. Storage in the original Pomellato case or an equivalent individual pouch is recommended.