Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry collection, Fascinating Egypt, features a stunning array of 180 pieces, drawing upon the rich materials in their own Egyptomania archives.
The beginning of the 20th century saw these themes permeate culture through neoclassical architecture, operas, ballets, decorative objects, and even film. Perhaps no city displays the sheer amount of evidence as Paris: most notably the installation of the Luxor Obelisk on Place de la Concorde in 1836, the decorative arts of the 1920s, and the past century of jewelry masterpieces created in and around Place Vendôme.
Fascinating Egypt features a stunning array of 180 pieces, drawing on the rich materials from Van Cleef & Arpels’ archives while offering a distinctly contemporary perspective.
A harmony between modernity and classicism is a fitting description for how the Maison approached its new Fascinating Egypt High Jewelry collection.
The jewelry does not simply cite design clichés; rather, it references the entire gamut of Egyptomania across varied media. Ms. Rénier expounds upon the theme: “Of course, we drew inspiration from powerful literary references, such as the Egyptian Pantheon illustrated by Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, but we also drew from more subtly influenced works and artistic movements, such as the Memphis Group, and from art forms we seldom represent, like cinema and theater.”
She says, “Our aim with this High Jewelry collection is also to offer a contemporary perspective on these influences, to celebrate the various forms of Egyptomania in all their artistic expressions. Thus, we have envisioned a jewelry panorama that tells the story of an Egypt reinterpreted through the centuries.”
One of the standouts is the Beauté Légendaire necklace, a collar centered on yellow diamonds that gleam like the sun off the Nile. The piece echoes the breastplates worn by the royalty of ancient Egypt. At the center of the collar sparkles a 10.02-carat cushion-cut Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond–an antique stone that has been left in its original cut.
A rare find, Ms. Rénier shares, about the choice, saying, “At Van Cleef & Arpels, we are committed to preserving the stone’s authentic color, without concealing it or trying to artificially enhance its brilliance. This is also what makes the colored diamonds we work with so exceptional. They are considered in the same way as other colored stones, for their unique characteristics, for the intensity and beauty of their nuances, as if there were no classification system.”
The necklace’s pattern mimics the folds of linen worn by the pharaohs in swooping lines of yellow gold spangled with round diamonds of increasing size. The clasp hides beneath a lotus flower crafted in white gold, yellow gold, and sapphires.
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