Van Cleef & Arpels 'Magic Alhambra' Mother of Pearl Between the Finger Ring

It’s not common that a motif as simple as a quatrefoil embellished with a beaded border can capture the hearts of fashionable clients around the world, but that’s precisely what happened with Van Cleef & Arpels’s signature Alhambra collection, which includes the Vintage Alhambra ring.

In 1968, Jacques Arpels (1914–2008), nephew of the venerable French jewelry house’s cofounder Estelle Arpels, wanted to design bold ready-to-wear pieces for the modern working woman. Inspired by the notion of luck and the Moorish architecture of the Spanish palace from which the collection draws its name, he decorated the original Alhambra necklace with 20 solid-gold quatrefoils on an opera-length chain, using the four-leaf clover as a talisman. A proverbial star is born, as they say.

Within a year of its debut, the Alhambra necklace made the cover of Vogue, worn by Swedish actress Britt Ekland. Van Cleef & Arpels then expanded the collection, populating its clover-shaped charms with panels of colorful stones like lapis lazuli and turquoise. Working women everywhere sought out the many varieties of the Alhambra necklace, especially after Princess Grace of Monaco was seen sporting several variations throughout the 1970s. In fact, the collection is still popular with royals today — Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been seen wearing her own Alhambra jewelry, sparking renewed interest in the line.

Continually in production since its debut in 1968, the Alhambra collection has gone on to include bracelets, earrings, a watch and rings, with the quatrefoil motif varying in scale, material and hue. There are now a number of subcategories in the collection, including Sweet Alhambra and Lucky Alhambra, the latter of which includes a number of other motifs related to luck, like the butterfly.

The Vintage Alhambra designation indicates that a piece of jewelry has a faithful representation of the original quatrefoil motif, outlined with a beaded border. In the case of the Vintage Alhambra ring, this is a single quatrefoil motif in yellow, white or rose gold. At the center of the ring is a diamond, which, like the Vintage Alhambra bracelet, is either surrounded by a colorful stone, more diamonds or the textured metal of the ring, all set within the beaded border of the quatrefoil. Having sustained its popularity for more than half a century, it’s likely that the Alhambra collection — and the beloved Vintage Alhambra ring — is here to stay at Van Cleef & Arpels.

One of the world’s foremost jewelry houses, Van Cleef & Arpels is particularly noted for a focus on technical virtuosity, craftsmanship and artistry, evident since its beginning. Rather than create earrings, bracelets, necklaces and other adornments primarily for the aim of displaying of wealth and opulence, Van Cleef & Arpels sought to produce jewelry that projected the wearer’s taste and style.

The company was formed a year after the 1895 marriage of Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a gem cutter, to Estelle Arpels, daughter of precious-stones dealer Salomon Arpels. Ten years later, Van Cleef & Arpels opened its first boutique on the Place Vendôme in Paris, setting the march on a square now crowded with dealers in bijouterie. (The company still occupies the New York flagship store opened in 1939 at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street.)

Born from a union of expertise in both jewelry making and gem selection, Van Cleef & Arpels distinguished itself with both the consistency of the color and clarity of its stones and the creativity of its designs. In doing so, the house would win a roster of dedicated, fashion-conscious clients that included the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Hutton, Jacqueline Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor. In 1933, Van Cleef & Arpels patented its trademark Mystery Setting — a technique by which gems are fitted into an intricate matrix of slots and “drawers” that keep the setting hidden. Another signal innovation was the Zip necklace, introduced in 1951, which can be worn either around the neck or, with the zipper closed, as a bracelet.

But as much as to the firm’s craftsmanship, clients have been drawn by the insouciance and playfulness of Van Cleef & Arpels designers, as well as their attunement to the cultural climate. After the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the company produced several lavish pieces featuring hieroglyphics and other Egyptian motifs to go along with the geometric Art Deco jewelry of that decade and the next. Following World War II, as symbols of freedom and rebirth, the firm focused on naturalistic forms such as birds, flowers, fruit and flying insects. High society’s 1960s fascination with the Near East and India prompted such pieces as the best-selling Alhambra necklace, popularized by Princess Grace.

Lately, attention among collectors and connoisseurs has centered on Van Cleef & Arpels’s quality of workmanship as much as its glamour. The firm was the subject of a 2012 show at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, as well as exhibitions at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, in 2013 and at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2014.

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