GREENWICH, CONN. — DSF Antique Jewelry will lend an antique silver fish-form spice box and a Helen Ringus dolphin-and-anchor pendant-brooch to the Bruce Museum for Adorned by the Sea: Jewelry from the Deep. The exhibition is scheduled to run from March 25 through September 5, 2027, in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The exhibition will explore how the ocean has influenced jewelry and decorative design, bringing finished works into dialogue with natural history specimens. The museum’s overview identifies pearls, coral, and shells among its subjects, with jewelry by houses including Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Verdura, and David Webb.

An articulated silver fish spice box

The fish-form spice box combines a small container with an articulated silver body and detailed engraving. Its construction gives movement to the fish, bringing an expressive quality to an object made to hold aromatic spices.

Fish-shaped spice containers belong to the tradition of Jewish ceremonial silver. Known as besamim, spice containers are used during Havdalah, the ceremony marking the close of the Sabbath, when participants smell fragrant spices. Their varied designs demonstrate how ritual use could inspire imaginative forms and skilled metalwork.

A dolphin and anchor by Helen Ringus

The second loan is a convertible pendant-brooch by American jeweler Helen Ringus. Made in 18K yellow gold with platinum details, it depicts a dolphin entwined with an anchor. Rubies and sapphires are set into the anchor, while diamonds add detail to the dolphin’s eye and the pendant loop.

The jewel can be worn as a brooch or suspended as a pendant. Its combination of an animal form, nautical imagery, and functional construction offers a different interpretation of the exhibition’s marine theme from the silver spice box.

Together, the two loans allow visitors to consider how sea imagery can serve different purposes in metalwork, from a vessel used in a domestic ceremony to a jewel designed to be worn. Both will carry the exhibition credit “Courtesy of DSF Antique Jewelry, New York.”

About DSF Antique Jewelry

Based in New York and serving clients internationally, DSF Antique Jewelry offers fine jewelry, signed designer pieces, estate, vintage and antique jewelry, rare gemstones, luxury watches, and collectible objects. Established in 2011, the business builds on more than 50 years of family experience in the wholesale jewelry trade. Its Objects collection includes silver, enamel work, decorative boxes, and other examples of craftsmanship beyond wearable jewelry.

Exhibition dates and further information about Adorned by the Sea: Jewelry from the Deep are available on the Bruce Museum’s official website.