Vintage Enamel and Gold Double Lion Head Ring by Zolatas, Circa 1980

An enamel and gold double lion head ring by Zolatas, with red, green, white and black bass taille enamel on 18ct gold stamped 750. 

The Greek firm of Zolotas was founded in 1895 in Athens at the foot of the Acropolis by Efthimios Zolotas. He was educated and gained experience at the ateliers in Paris. Once he returned home he was determined to use what he had learnt to start his own business.  In doing so he wanted to create a Greek jewellery house that combined the traditions and style of his homeland with Parisian standards of craftsmanship.  The firm was immediately successful with Athenian high society. Zolotas was soon able to open his own workshop adjacent to the store on Aiolou Street, employing specialist goldsmiths and establishing an apprentice school.  In 1904 he married his wife Konstantina and their son Xenofon was born the following year.  By this time his work had come to the attention of the Greek Royal family and in 1910 he created a series of jewels for them to wear to the coronation of England’s King George V. 

Xenofon didn’t join the business, instead becoming a Professor in Finacial Law, at the University of Thessaloniki, working for the Bank of Greece, for 25 years and served as Prime Minister in 1990. He stayed connected to the Zolotas business. He still had a passion for jewellery and Greek history, particularly of the Hellenistic period. In the 1950s he decides to make the Zolatas trademark equal to that of the most famous French and American firms. He initiated collaborations with Greek archaeological museums, in the 1960s, using the Classical motifs and patterns of Greek culture, such as the Lions of Mycenae and the Star of Vergina, to gold-trimmed Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna, for jewellery designs. In the 1970s Zolatas opened a store in Paris and formed collaborations with sculptor Claude Lalanne, artist Paloma Picasso, ex-Tiffany designer Ronald McNamer.

Zolatas continues today, combining new variations on their historical designs with newly introduced collections.

With thanks to Hancocks and Zolatas’s website.