Van Cleef & Arpels Heritage Collection: Its Jewels Through History

Van Cleef & Arpels’ NATACHA VASSILTCHIKOV shares her insights into the jewellery house’s efforts in preserving its patrimony and heritage.

The inspirations, the techniques and the craft of Van Cleef & Arpels have formed the subjects of many books, yet this year’s publication of The Van Cleef & Arpels Collection (1906-1953) marks the first time the house’s jewellery works are studied in their historical, artistic and cultural context. The need for such a survey, coming more than 100 years after Van Cleef & Arpels’ establishment, not only reflects the maison’s mission to resituate jewellery among the decorative arts but, more importantly, speaks volumes about a growing interest among collectors
to understand and perhaps even to own an historic jewel.

The published volume covers the first half of the 20th century, with a second to follow that will document the period from 1954 to 2000, illustrated with important pieces from the house’s Patrimony Collection. Says Nicolas Bos, president and current CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels: “Jewellery is not an isolated art. It’s in constant interaction with other disciplines, which inspire it and which it influences in return.” Jewellery has an important place in the great history of the arts, with Van Cleef & Arpels an important influence throughout the last century.

Read more: Once Upon a Time – Van Cleef & Arpels’ Storytelling and Craft

Van Cleef & Arpels began building its Patrimony Collection in the 1970s and has meticulously developed it since, so that it now comprises more than 2,700 pieces that symbolise the creativity, innovation and technique of the house. These pieces, presented to audiences through exhibitions in renowned museums and institutions, garner much interest in collectors but aren’t for sale. Working in parallel to the Patrimony department, however, is the younger, but equally important Heritage department, which 12 years ago set out to create a collection of heritage pieces that collectors could own.

“It was actually Nicolas Luchsinger, the former president of Van Cleef & Arpels in Asia, who initiated it,” says Natacha Vassiltchikov, the brand’s international deputy heritage director. “He had an auction background before he joined Van Cleef & Arpels and he was very familiar with period jewellery. He saw that clients who were buying contemporary pieces in the boutique were also interested in pieces from the past. And he thought it was important for the maison to offer both – pieces from the past and pieces of today.” The Heritage Collection was first shown in the United States where the auction business and the pre-owned market was more established. Today, with growing interest in the Heritage Collection from the Middle East and Asia, Hong Kong is one of its first stops on the collection’s annual tour.

In Hong Kong to present the latest Heritage pieces between the ’20s and the ’90s, Vassiltchikov also takes a more scientific approach by evaluating the influences of world events and art movements on Van Cleef & Arpels’ high jewellery design. The 1930s, for example, was a decade of innovation, when pieces such as the Ludo bracelet and the Cadenas watch were born, and when the important Peony clip, unveiled at the 1937 International Exposition, introduced the world to Van Cleef & Arpels’ magical Mystery Set technique. In the ’40s, jewellery become more functional due to the influence of the Second World War, while the ’50s were the retro years, hailing the return of glamour, rock ’n’ roll and large ornamental stones.

Before joining the maison, Vassiltchikov studied history and art, then worked for around 20 years at an auction house. “I enjoy putting jewellery back in its context and I think my eye for history and art has enabled me to look at jewellery from another perspective,” she tells me. “I love this approach of going through the decades. I love comparing pieces from the same era, or putting them in contrast with a different era, and coming to the realisation that these are all pieces produced by the same maison.”

For Vassiltchikov, the Heritage Collection shows “what it means for a brand to be more than 100 years old” and “still remain relevant today”. Viewed from a historical perspective, it’s suddenly clear what makes Van Cleef & Arpels so special: through decades of economic boom and bust, the jewellery house never wavered in its creative diversity, aesthetic exploration or technical innovation. 

One of the first Heritage Collection pieces Vassiltchikov shows us is a beautiful cuff-type bracelet that’s typical of early-’20s Art Deco, where the goldwork is completely articulated and hidden by diamonds in shapes and patterns of roses.

There’s a similar piece in the Patrimony Collection: the Entwined Flowers, Red and White Roses bracelet, also a cuff-type bracelet, is the most eloquent example of Van Cleef & Arpels’ adherence to the Art Deco movement. Stylised roses were a major Art Deco motif and the bracelet, with its floral composition of rubies, emeralds, onyx and yellow diamonds set in platinum, was a Grand Prix jewellery prize winner at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.

The way the Heritage team sources for jewels are very similar to the Patrimony department. “Both look for very iconic pieces,” Vassiltchikov concedes, but with one crucial difference. “We have an emphasis on wearability today,” she says, “which the Patrimony Collection doesn’t have because they’re there to tell the story of Van Cleef & Arpels in all its diversity.

“It’s not that the best pieces go to Patrimony and the second-best go to Heritage,” she emphasises. “But Patrimony wants pieces that can present our history in our museum, while we, in Heritage, want these jewels to have a new life and not just be showcased. We sometimes argue. But it’s always an ongoing dialogue.”

The Heritage Collection evolves with consumer tastes and trends, which, as in fashion, come and go in cycles. As fashion trends from the ’80s and ’90s become popular again, so too are jewellery clients searching for pieces from this decade.

Jewellery from this era is defined by sartorial choices of the time – designers favoured a nipped-in waist and great shoulder pads, just as the jewellery was similarly bold in form and detail. Moreover, there was a revival for matching parures, and high demand for earrings, necklaces and rings to be designed as a set.

Today Vassiltchikov is seeing high demand for brooches, especially from men. “You can really do so much with brooches and it’s the smartest accessory to own. Perceptions are changing and we see more men wearing them,” she says. “They don’t necessarily seem to have the same barrier we see with women, who sometimes prefer to own a new piece. Men look at our Heritage Collection the same way they look at our new collections. They buy what they want.”

Perhaps it’s something to do with men historically having more of a collector’s mentality when it comes to owning vintage items. Vassiltchikov agrees. “It’s similar to cars or watches. I often make parallels with a car – you’d never replace the old leather seats in an old car, you’d want everything to be as original as possible. And with jewellery, they want to keep the patina untouched.”

Understanding Heritage is a little like visiting an art exhibition, says Vassiltchikov. “Initially you tend to have a very aesthetic approach, but when somebody explains the pieces to you, in more detail, to tell you what the artist is conveying at the time and what it’s worth, you appreciate it differently. Our clients not only appreciate a Heritage piece based on its aesthetics but also because of what the piece carries with it and what it reflects. That’s what our Heritage Collection is all about.”