Van Cleef & Arpels: an invitation to dream and escape

"This High Jewelry collection celebrates a tradition that has always fascinated us. At the beginning of the 20th century, when Van Cleef & Arpels was founded, curiosity for other cultures, periods and forms of art was a way to fuel one’s imagination and give rise to innovative creations.

We followed the trail of our predecessors and chose cities that were renowned stops historically. We took inspiration from antique jewelry – Roman, Etruscan, Medieval or Renaissance –, marrying it with our own heritage, style and craftsmanship. The result is like a colorful sketchbook that invites to dive into destinations and gemstones", - Nicolas Bos, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels.

London

The voyage begins in the streets of London. Taking Canova’s statue at the stately home of Chatsworth House as its subject matter, this creation evokes the treasures of the sumptuous residence of the Duke of Devonshire, nicknamed the English Versailles. The Dea eterna clip reveals the silhouette of the goddess Hebe, within a profusion of elements inspired by a garden rockery. Perched on a rock of lapis lazuli with a rough aspect, the young girl pours ambrosia with a graceful movement. The niche that surrounds her is made up of superposed strips of polished or textured gold and brilliant and marquise-cut diamonds; the ensemble suggests the asperities of rock.

The heart of this bustling city is the birthplace of Wedgwood porcelain, the inspiration for the Josiah necklace. Two sparking strands fluidly unfurl, one of round and the other of baguette-cut diamonds, separated by a row of baguette-cut diamonds that offers glimpses of the skin. Intricately articulated, the strands hug the curve of the neckline to ensure optimum comfort when worn. Like silk ribbons, they intertwine to hang down at the front, culminating in two remarkable oval-cut sapphires weighing 25.10 and 21.78 carats.

Paris

Reviving the memory of the Court’s ladies-in-waiting and the lights of their boudoirs, the Lucendi earrings portray a precious conversation, under the auspices of Parisian refinement. Suggesting the elaborate silhouette of 18th century chandeliers, they are adorned with pampilles and trace the outline of the corbeille, suspended by a chain from a triple loop of rose gold.

The Alps

Two stones with an enchanting glow take pride of place on the Regina montium necklace. The first, a cushion-cut tourmaline weighing 16.26 carats, nestles at the heart of the choker, above a second oval-cut tourmaline weighing 27.70 carats and completing a detachable pendant. The two gems create a harmonious interplay of blue-green shades, accentuated by the sparkle of diamonds and the blue and violet tones of sapphires, aquamarines and tanzanites. The colored stones scattered across the choker and medallion have been carefully chosen by Van Cleef & Arpels’ expert gemologists, to highlight the tones and undertones of the two center stones as best as possible. The ensemble evokes the poetry of a snowy mountain landscape.

When winter comes to an end, pines and violets blossom to open the way for nature’s renewal. It is the moment when the Edelweiss gently awakens during the first fine days. The Étoile des glaciers clip depicts this wild plant that blossoms at high altitudes. A rare and protected species, it flowers each year into downy white petals. The diamonds’ intense yellow complements the gentle blue of the sapphires, illuminating the composition with myriad reflections. These stones are accompanied by round, pear-shaped, square- and marquise-cut diamonds.

Venice

The Chant des gondoliers necklace and earrings suggest the emblematic waters of Venice, thanks to 16 oval-cut turquoise cabochons of a particularly vivid color. Fashioned into articulated pendeloques, these stones circle the neck in a regular cascade. They are topped by diamond-paved arch motifs evoking the city’s low bridges, like an invitation to a voyage along the river.

An emblematic location in Venetian life, the Piazza San Marco has inspired the Maison to create a graphic set – made up of a finely worked necklace and clip – studded with stones of intense blue. Two strips of gadrooned rose gold embellish the choker, revealing an alternation of jewelry elements. The openwork structure seems to trace the course of the Grand Canal, the bridges that cross its waters and majestic palaces. The central medallion can be replaced by a clip depicting the landscape of Venice seen from the sea, in the way of a micro mosaic of gems.

Vestiges of the splendor of ancient Rome, they have endured through the ages. The ruins of majestic buildings, once the seats of power or religion, still bear the traces of their magnificent past. Their beauty has given rise to the Capriccio necklace. Two rows of diamonds, evoking the vaults of this architectural past, are accentuated by a thread of yellow gold, highlighting the design’s graphic quality. Five emeralds of remarkable quality, weighing a total of 31.13 carats, illuminate the composition.

Florence

In 1485, the Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli created one of the most famous masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance: The Birth of Venus. On its Grand Tour, the Maison offers the Ode à l’amour ring in homage to this great master, in a blend of creativity and savoir-faire. An oval-cut pink sapphire weighing 4.04 carats nestles in the hollow of a rose gold shell, whose raised edges protect the stone. Rubies, pink sapphires and diamonds surround it delicately, while round diamonds underline the contour of the shell.

Rome

Originating in Greek mythology, the horn of plenty refers to a container endowed with an extraordinary property: filled with fruits and flowers, it can never be depleted. A symbol of profusion and riches, it has inspired Van Cleef & Arpels to create this luxuriant clip. A rubellite weighing 12.38 carats immediately attracts the gaze. Its deep red is revealed in a generously proportioned cushion cut, whose facets multiply the reflections. Diamond leaves, a bunch of amethysts, and a pomegranate set with rubies and spessartite garnets blossom around it. The buff-topped stones suggest the sweetness of fresh fruit, reproducing the abundance associated with this magical object. Finally, flowers set with sapphires, spessartite garnets and diamonds form precious bouquets. The nuances of the colored stones unfurl in a flamboyant harmony, illuminated by the myriad reflections of diamonds and the shimmer of polished rose gold.

Hugging the chest with the elegance and fluidity of draping, the Jardin de mosaïque long necklace unfurls in a harmonious cascade of emerald beads, weighing a total of 546.50 carats. Facing one another on either side of the neck, a succession of delicately articulated jewelry elements recall the motifs of Roman mosaics after which the piece is named. On one side, an engraved Colombian emerald, weighing 56.97 carats, nestles in the heart of a procession of round, calibrated, baguette-cut and square diamonds. Remarkable for its proportions, this antique gem is equally fascinating for the quality of its crystallization and its intense color, which are both extremely rare for an engraved stone of this size. On both sides, the image of a flower with plump petals blossoms, endowing the stone with poetry. At its tips, two carefully matched sugarloaf emeralds echo the image’s three-dimensional relief. In keeping with the Van Cleef & Arpels style, this transformable creation can be worn in other ways: the necklace can be reduced into two shorter versions, while the central emerald can be transformed into a clip thanks to a mechanism that is as ingenious as it is discreet.

Naples

The Ninfe necklace depicts a generous floral crown, like those that can be seen in the mosaics of the ruined Nymphaeum in Herculaneum, a monument dedicated to the nymphs. The garland is suspended from two ribbons, which echo one another in a reversed mirror image. Made up of links of gadrooned rose gold or diamonds and pink sapphires, they join at the neck to form a three-dimensional knot. At the center of the creation, a luxuriant composition of leaves in gadrooned rose gold, white gold and diamonds, or red and pink “angel-skin” coral surrounds three vividly colored gems like a precious nest. A pink cushion-cut rubellite weighing 24.02 carats illuminates the hollow of the neck with its limpid material and soft pink color, subtly accentuated by two oval-cut rubellites weighing 12.44 and 11.52 carats of particularly even color.

Like an invitation to an enchanted stroll in the hanging gardens of Ravello, Van Cleef & Arpels presents a set of clips with resplendent foliage. The pieces recreate the atmosphere of abundance exuded by the villas of the Amalfi coast, like that of the old medieval Villa Rufolo. Restored by an English lord in the 19th century, it is surrounded by lush flora – which provides the inspiration for these creations that are full of life and movement. Leaves of varied dimensions, in rose gold or white gold paved with diamonds, emerge from interlaced bands adorned with stones and gadroons, to recall the tiered terraces of the gardens.

Baden-Baden

The voyage to the center of Baden-Baden offers a bucolic detour in the garden of the Lichtenthal Abbey. On either side of the verdant path, huge trees with luxuriant foliage watch over the town with a gaze that has endured the centuries. Willows, oaks, birches and lindens have inspired the Maison to create colored compositions, which give pride of place to rare materials. Blue, mauve and pink sapphires adorn the Feuillage mystique clip, creating interplays within luxuriant foliage of rose gold, at the tip of a branch of red coral of great quality.

On Feuillage rêveur clip, a boulder opal motif weighing 39.80 carats – still retaining parts of the rock it came from – displays green, light and dark blue fires beneath a cascade of white gold leaves. The clip is punctuated with round and marquise-cut sapphires of blue and pink, whose shades compose a gradation of color. Some stones – set on mobile bezels – attract the eye along with the light, evoking the mystery of moonlight.

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