Hoisted on a point shod with blue sapphires, she soars… her openwork petticoat, studded with diamonds, flies like lace.
Ultra-realistic, Léonore, the name of the graceful clip-on ballerina born in the workshops of the jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels, wowed visitors to the Tefaf (European Fine Art Fair), the last edition of which was held from March 9 to 14 in Maastricht , in the Nederlands.
For eleven years, the house of Van Cleef & Arpels has been associated with the prestigious art and antiques fair by unveiling, among paintings, sculptures and objects of art, its high jewelry masterpieces.
The seven pieces revealed this year – five historic and two contemporary creations – were sure to turn heads.
Like the twirling ballerina Léonore, Van Cleef & Arpels has let its imagination soar.
The beating of wings
In a window, the jeweler's creativity was transformed into a ring inspired by the Battus philenor, an American butterfly discovered in 1771 by the Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné.
This transformable jewel deployed on the fly its inlaid colors of onyx, turquoise and white mother-of-pearl, around a flower bud set with a striking 2.5 carat EVVS2 diamond, surrounded by rubies cut on the work of a perfect curve.
Once worn, the Entre Les Doigts Papillon Philenor ring offers the illusion of a creature delicately placed on the hand, thanks to a technique developed by Van Cleef & Arpels.
Brooch in gold, diamonds and sapphires, Van Cleef & Arpels Photo Press / Van Cleef & Arpels
Style revolutions
In a permanent dialogue between yesterday and today, between tradition and innovation, the brand has also chosen to highlight five treasures from its Héritage collection.
It brings together nearly 120 old pieces, made between the 1920s and 1990s, all having been the subject of an in-depth examination before being offered for sale.
Concentrating know-how and audacity, the five jewels enthroned at Tefaf are rooted in the history of creation.
From a Leaf Clip which flirted with abstraction in 1943, we witness, after the war, the comeback of nature: the Leaf Clip from 1947 allows a luminous paving of a multitude of diamonds to flourish, ribbed with baguette-cut ruby in Mysterious Setting.
Another era, in the opulence of the
sixties
and
seventies
, the jeweler cascades sapphires (on earrings) and turquoises (on a bracelet) cut into cabochons.
The best illustration of the style revolutions brought by the Place Vendôme jeweler is his minaudière, an innovation between jewelry and art object that we owe to Charles Arpels in 1933. Dated 1961 and woven with gold in haute couture style , the exquisite piece exhibited at Tefaf was kept in the collection of a famous shipowner.
From there to fantasizing about his owner, slipping in his tube of red and taking one last look in the mirror before heading off to the opera... Irresistible
Earrings in gold, sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds, Van Cleef & Arpels Photo Press / Van Cleef & Arpels