VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, A NATURAL PEARL AND DIAMOND BRACELET, CIRCA 1950

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, A NATURAL PEARL AND DIAMOND BRACELET, CIRCA 1950, the three rows of natural pearls graduating from approximately 5.65 - 7.32mm, centring on a diamond-set clasp, designed as alternately-set scrolls of baguette-shaped and circular-cut diamonds of undulating design, signed Van Cleef & Arpels and numbered 7.637 - CS, with maker's lozenge for Charles Profilet, length 19.5cm

A verbal report from GCS (no. 5785-3682) states that the pearls are natural saltwater

Already desirable for the quality of its natural pearls, the present lot is particularly interesting for the striking design of its large scrolling clasp. Van Cleef & Arpels first introduced this new style of jewellery with the release of the 'Flamme' brooch in 1934. This design, which has now achieved iconic status in Van Cleef & Arpels' oeuvre, pioneered the shift away from the angular and more abstract geometric forms of the earlier Art Deco period. Its scrolling design, similar to a flame, from which the French name 'Flamme', introduced the taste from more organic forms and gentler curvilinear shapes that heralded the taste for the softer style of mid-century jewellery. With the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, this new taste for curves and arabesques was firmly established, and the tone was set for the following two decades. Skilled craftmanship was at the heart of this new style, with the large design houses sourcing their pieces from the exceptional workshops active in Paris at the time, including that of Charles Profilet, whose work bares the distinctive maker's lozenge with 'CH P' followed by mistletoe. Into the 1950s, the popularity of scrolling features in jewellery continued, often featured alongside natural pearls. Van Cleef & Arpels famously combined these elements in Princess Grace of Monaco's marriage set, dated 1955-1956, which included a three-strand pearl necklace detailed with two bold scrolling links. The present lot is firmly set within this tradition, and speaks of all the quality and exceptional design that characterises Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery.

Cf. Évelyne Possémé (ed.), 'Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art of High Jewellery' (Les Arts Décoratifs, 2012), pp.284-285, for an illustration of the Van Cleef & Arpels pearl and diamond set now in The Princess Grace of Monaco Collection, Palais Princier, Monaco.