By royal approval: Van Cleef & Arpels’ floral jewels

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century ago, the jewellery designer Alfred Van Cleef introduced an extraordinary floral bracelet at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels in Paris, the fair that is credited with launching the art deco movement. Adorned with diamonds, rubies and emeralds set in platinum, Van Cleef’s Fleurs enlacées, roses rouges et blanches (Entwined Flowers) cuff evoked a border of blowsy red and white roses and stunned the judges, who awarded the jewel the Grand Prix.

Since then, bejewelled buds, sparkling corollas and golden leaves have flourished within Van Cleef & Arpels’ design repertoire. “Nature has been a perennial source of inspiration,” says the company’s CEO, Catherine Rénier. “For me, this theme embodies freshness, vitality and joy.”

Entwined Flowers cuff, 1924, in platinum, diamonds, rubies, emerald and onyx. Van Cleef & Arpels Heritage Collection

Bouquet clip, 1938, in yellow gold, rubies, sapphires, aquamarines and topazes. Van Cleef & Arpels Heritage Collection

As the techniques of its craftsmen have evolved, so have the jeweller’s motifs. Patented in 1933, its signature Mystery setting allowed precious stones to be arranged tightly together without any visible metal, giving the petals of rose, peony and chrysanthemum brooches an unprecedented volume, depth of colour and almost velvety texture. With the sleek lines and pared-back silhouettes of early mid-century modernism came a plethora of stylised florals, such as the Fleur Silhouette brooch from 1937, which was crafted from loops of gold wire and curved rows of precious stones. Around the same time, Hélène Arpels — the glamorous wife of Louis, the youngest of the Arpels brothers, who regularly appeared on international best-dressed lists — was pictured wearing the house’s iconic Passe-Partout collection at the Prix de Diane horse race in Chantilly. These multipurpose jewels had chunky sapphire, ruby and diamond flower clips threaded onto flexible gold “Tubogas” chains, allowing them to be worn as bracelets, necklaces or belts.

Three birds clip, 1946, in yellow gold, platinum, rubies, sapphires and diamonds. Van Cleef & Arpels Heritage Collection

Bouquet of violets clip, 1938, in yellow gold, amethysts. Van Cleef & Arpels Heritage Collection

By 1939, one of the maison’s gem-set posies had found its way into the wardrobe of one of the era’s most infamous women, Wallis Simpson. The Duchess of Windsor was a longtime admirer of Van Cleef & Arpels’ work, and many of the spectacular jewels in her collection (so large it has been dubbed the “alternative Crown Jewels”) hailed from its atelier, including a ruby and diamond bracelet gifted to her in 1936 by the Duke of Windsor (memorably inscribed with the words “Hold tight”); a ruby-studded “cravat” necklace that was a 40th birthday present, and a polished sapphire and diamond clip that she wore for her marriage to the Duke in 1937.

For Christmas the following year, the Duchess received an ornate brooch shaped like a bouquet of ruby and sapphire flowers from her doting husband. The 8in-long jewel came from a new Van Cleef & Arpels collection called Hawaï, which featured miniature red and blue blossoms dotted about 18-carat gold stems and leaves. The gift was a hit: the Duchess wore it to sit for the artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst in 1939 and the resulting portrait was given pride of place in the library at the Windsors’ villa in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. (It is now displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in London.)

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