Gorgeous jewellery worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco and Princess Faiza of Egypt line up with a four-billion-year-old rock in the exhibition “Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art & Science of Gems” at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum.
The French maker of luxury jewellery is the star of what’s being billed as Southeast Asia’s largest-ever gems exhibition. More than 400 stunning creations currently on the market, borrowed from private collectors or plucked from the firm’s archives are on view through Sunday.
Also on view, for those who appreciate the gems in their raw state, are 250 mineral samples from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
For Van Cleef & Arpels president and chief executive Nicolas Bos, the show fulfils a long-held goal. “Since the very early days our purpose has been to bring the world of jewellery and the creative arts to a wider audience,” he says.
This they’ve achieved in remarkable fashion, taking visitors on 4.5-billion-year journey to see how precious stones and metals are formed and how they end up glittering on the necks and ring fingers of the rich and famous.
“Sixty of the pieces come from private collections in Dubai, Kuwait, Monaco, England, the US, Italy, Switzerland – all around the world,” says Catherine Cariou, the firm’s heritage director. “The owners are generally inclined to loan because they’re very proud to be part of our beautiful retrospectives.”
Museum director Honor Harger points out that the exhibition – designed by architects Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku – perfectly fits the facility’s mission to match artistic and scientific endeavours. Its themes are Couture, Abstractions, Influences, Precious Objects, Nature, Ballerinas and Fairies, and Icons.
A tour begins with suitable dazzle – a bird carrying a 96.62-carat briolette-cut yellow diamond in its beak, one of the most striking custom orders Van Cleef has ever received. In the 1930s opera singer Ganna Walska wore it as a pendant, though it can be adapted as earrings or a brooch.
Elsewhere is the largest crystal ever found in the Alps, a 1,765-pound quartz, along with “the world’s oldest rock”, age four billion years.
“We also have rare minerals with strange names, such as corindon and pyroxen, which are raw materials for jewellery makers,” says Bruno David of the Museum of Natural History. “An exhibition like this, where the paths of science and art intersect, is ideal for illustrating the hybrid field we could call ‘geo-jewellery’.”
In the Influences section, Van Cleef’s fascination with Asian and Egyptian motifs becomes apparent. On show are a gem-studded platinum bracelet it created after the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and a “Siamese head clip” made in 1968, incorporating gold, sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds.
Chinese motifs like dragons appear on many pieces, including an antique scent bottle in red lacquer that also bears a Bird of Paradise, and a Chinese Hat Set of gold necklace and earrings.
Van Cleef’s admiration for Japanese culture is reflected in many items. A sabre-hilt bracelet in woven gold, platinum and brilliant-cut diamonds from 1958 pays homage to Japanese sword-makers. In 2014 it hid a watch inside a bracelet shaped like a carp, all adorned with yellow and orange garnets, spinels and tourmalines.
A clock made in 1957 features two Japanese maidens carved in rock crystal, complete with traditional hairstyles and kimonos. They hold the clock itself, made of gold, sapphires and diamonds, above a crystal table embedded with sapphire and diamond “flowers”.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.