Major 18K Gold High-Jewellery Presentations Poised for TEFAF Maastricht 2026

TEFAF Maastricht 2026 arrives with a focused jewellery programme that foregrounds 18k gold high-jewellery alongside bold material experiments in titanium and aluminium. Katerina Perez’s preview highlights makers such as Dries Criel, SANTI and Cora Sheibani, while gallery displays will stage historic and modern works that place gold within a broader curatorial conversation.

The fair runs with preview days on March 12 and 13 and opens to the public March 14 through 19. The 39th edition will bring what organisers describe as more than 7,000 years of art history under one roof and will gather 276 dealers and galleries from 24 countries to exhibit paintings, works on paper, antiques, ancient art, jewellery, modern and contemporary art and design.

Dries Criel’s showpiece appears as a substantial 18k gold ring set with natural diamonds, enamel and a cambolite centre stone - the trade name used for natural blue zircon sourced in Cambodia. The ring is variously labelled in advance material as the Spynx ring and the Sphinx ring; Perez notes, “With its vivid teal centre stone, architectural setting and generous volume, the ring captures the essence of this emerging brand.” The combination of enamel, large-volume setting and natural diamonds positions Criel’s piece as a sculptural statement among the fair’s high-jewellery offerings.

SANTI returns for its second year at TEFAF under founder Krishna Choudhary’s contemporary reinterpretation of Mughal heritage. Key pieces include Lotus earrings executed in 18k rose gold with rose-gold petals that frame old-mine rosette-cut diamonds and pavé-set diamonds cascading across dark titanium arcs. The house will also present an Emerald and Diamond Archery ring, Gold Jaali earrings in titanium and rose gold set with diamonds, and a Titanium Pearl bracelet set with a 54ct Basra pearl, diamond pavé and graduating pearls in titanium.

Swiss-born, London-based Cora Sheibani brings a deliberately colourful counterpoint in 18k gold and unconventional metals. Her Lapis lazuli and grey spinel Fern earrings pair 18k rose gold with green aluminium tendrils beneath geometric lapis “flower pots.” The Palmeira citrine and amethyst Tetris brooch is shown in 18k yellow gold, and the Double Trouble ring pairs purple spinel with a purple Edison pearl in 18k rose gold. As the preview copy frames her work, “Together, they embody her belief that, when it comes to jewellery design, colour, form and freedom can lead the way.”

Didier’s presentation, titled “Gold in the Hands of the Artists,” will include a notable cast by London goldsmith John Donald: a gold bangle formed as two male acrobats holding hands with their feet touching, shown alongside works attributed to César Baldaccini, Man Ray and Max Ernst. The essayed display also references Michael Ayrton’s lifelong fascination with acrobats, including his line, “Since I myself am an arthritic and can neither bend my permanently rigid back nor, for most of the time, move easily,” which frames the irony in depictions of limber bodies.

Alongside jewellery, advanced selections for the fair include Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait Frowning (1630), Paul Gauguin’s Bouquets et céramique sur une commode (1886) and Claude Monet’s Landscape - Factories (c.1858–61). An Old Master included in previews is Orazio Gentileschi’s The Penitent Saint Jerome (1610; detail), offered with a seven-figure sum by Trinity Fine Art and a provenance traceable to the Ernest Brummer Collection sale in Zurich in 1979 and a Sotheby’s London appearance in 2018.

TEFAF Maastricht 2026 promises a jewellery programme that pairs technical 18k gold work with experimental alloys and unusual gems, staging contemporary makers and artist-led gold work within the fair’s sweep of paintings, antiquities and modern art. The public run begins March 14, and preview days March 12 and 13 will be the first opportunity to examine these 18k pieces in person.