Van Cleef & Arpels’ Egypt High Jewellery Collection ignites Egyptomania in a riot of colours

Van Cleef & Arpels has imagined a vast breadth of creations over the years that celebrate the influence exerted by Ancient Egypt over the centuries. With ‘Fascinating Egypt’, the maison’s latest high jewellery collection launched in Paris last month, a new chapter of this narrative is expressed in a riot of colours and an air of modernity.

Spanning some 180 abstract and figurative pieces that evoke the vestiges of Egyptian civilisation, ‘Fascinating Egypt’ presents Van Cleef & Arpels’ own vision of this ancient heritage; one that has beguiled, intrigued, and enthralled for more than 2,000 years.

Van Cleef & Arpels created veritable miniature tableaux, combining refined and structured lines with sharp contrasts. On diamond settings, figures stand out in buff-topped coloured gems, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies – enlivened by onyx details.

The gem, already mined in Egypt nearly 6,000 years ago, stands out for its bright blue hue symbolising eternity. The reinterpretations that came in its wake include an Osiris necklace from 1986, featuring a cartouche with evocative iconography at its centre. More recently, in 2012, a Scarabée ring from the thematic high jewellery collection ‘Palais de la Chance’ depicts the animal in sculpted chrysoprase.