Wonders of Creation
The latest exhibition by Van Cleef & Arpels explores the very origins of minerals and their transformation into exquisite adornments. Charlene Co discovers some fascinating tales
s well as its striking size and beauty, the fancy vivid yellow briolette diamond hanging from the beak of a gem-encrusted bird brooch at Singapore’s ArtScience Museum has a fascinating provenance. The spectacular 96-carat stone once belonged to the flamboyant Polish opera singer Ganna Walska, who was arguably more famous for her extensive jewellery collection and fondness for men—she married six times—than her voice.
The diva sold the gem and other jewels in 1971 at a Sotheby’s auction to fund renovations at her Californian estate. Van Cleef & Arpels outbid all rivals, which included Cartier, Boucheron, and Chaumet, and named the stone the Walska Briolette Diamond, later incorporating it into the exquisite brooch. Whether by virtue of its provenance or its rarely seen quality and size, this gemstone tells a fascinating story and sets the tone for Van Cleef & Arpels’ largest and most elaborate heritage exhibition to date.
Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art and Science of Gems brings together a carefully curated collection of jewellery from the maison’s archives, a few pieces on loan from private collectors and more than 200 mineral artefacts from the French National Museum of Natural History. The main objective of the extensive display, says ArtScience Museum executive director Honor Harger, is to take visitors on a “dramatic journey” of minerals, from their evolution in the depths of the earth to their transformation into works of art.
Harger and experts from Van Cleef & Arpels and the Paris museum spent two years conceptualising and developing the exhibition storyboard. “Throughout the entire process, we were engaged in an open dialogue—proposing ideas and angles that would challenge a traditional display,” Harger recalls. “The entire process required a very open-minded approach from all three institutions, and the result speaks for itself. We have an exhibition that has the authority and authenticity that will transport visitors in the depth of time and of creation.”