Now, the French jewellery brings together dazzling precious gems with fun and adventure, in a new high jewellery collection inspired by iconic novel ‘Treasure Island’.
Sometimes known as ‘haute joaillerie’, high jewellery is respected as the pinnacle of jewellery creation. Show-stopping designs embrace the rarest gems from the world’s most exclusive locations while incredibly technical craftsmanship brings that creativity to life.
In the just-unveiled new collection, Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous tale of a quest for buried treasure provides a huge scope of motifs and themes. Colourful gems of all cuts and colours fit into three mini collections.
Chapter 1: The adventure at sea
Van Cleef & Arpels plots a course towards the horizon and sets sail across the seas. Pieces weave in items of navigation and the aquatic world with gold and stunning stones. From ropes to moorings, from gentle ripples to vistas of foam, daring pirates encounter wondrous fishes and treasures of the seabed.
Hispaniola Clip, white gold, rose gold and diamonds; Poissons Mystérieux clip, white gold, sapphires and diamonds.
Highlights include the Hispaniola Clip, which pays homage to the eponymous ship that enables the characters of Treasure Island to brave the ocean. This creation draws inspiration from the vessel’s impressively sized sails – in white gold set with diamonds – to evoke the linen sailcloth of the ships at the time. The Poissons Mystérieux clip immortalises a ballet of fish in the ocean, with waves depicted by the Vitrail Mystery Set, in a gradation of blue and violet tones.
Whimsical, mischievous and daring, three Pirate clips echo the main characters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s work while shimmery palm trees are recreated with colour and flair.
Chapter 2: Exploring the island
After dropping anchor off the coast of the dreamlike island, Van Cleef & Arpels sets foot on its golden beaches and collects precious seashells, jewels of the sea. The collection explores a tropical vegetation adorned with myriad colours, laden with hidden treasures. It encounters a benevolent fauna, reflecting its positive vision of life.
The Coquillage Mystérieux clip and Tortue de Cocos bleue clip are inspired by the precious creatures of the sea, all boasting a complex works of craftsmanship, and a range of precious stones cuts and settings.
Chapter 3: The treasure hunt
At the heart of the island imagined by Van Cleef & Arpels, a treasure lies hidden. Jewels discovered in all four corners of the world, gems of captivating colours, finely wrought gold carvings: the creations display astonishing interplays of materials and colour combinations.
Depicting a golden map, sealed with a twisted cord in rose gold with mobile tassels, Van Cleef & Arpels has made the childlike wish of finding a map at the bottom of an old chest come true in the Carte au trésor clip.
A plethora of other necklaces earrings and rings represent the plethora of imagined treasure to be found on the island.
