The fairy tale of the twelve princesses seen by Van Cleef & Arpels

The first of the fairy tales that is part of the collection of high jewelry Quatre contes de Grimm by Van Cleef & Arpels ♦ ︎

If high jewelry is a dream for many, for Van Cleef & Arpels dreams are transformed into high jewelery. Or better, in fairy tales. We have already anticipated the collection of fine jewelry called Quatre contes de Grimm, which interprets four of the fairy tales written by the two brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 and 1815: The Twelve Dancing Princesses, The Golden Bird, The Three Feathers, Town Musicians of Bremen. But after an overview, it is worth telling separately, as if it were a fairy tale, each of the four jewelry lines.
“Once upon a time there was a king who had 12 daughters of unbelievable beauty. Inseparable, they illuminated the palace and its gardens from morning to night. Then they retired to the room where their twelve beds were lined up.
Every evening the king closed door, and yet every morning he found that their shoes were worn too much because they had danced.” It’s this the beginning of tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which has inspired the exceptional jewels of the collection.

Of course, in this high-end jewelry line there are 12 princesses. Van Cleef & Arpels transforms them into clips, large brooches of gold and precious stones. Each has a name: for example, Eos retains a strip of the perforated drapery of the dress, made with diamonds, pink and mauve sapphires. Emera has a costume that overlays a blue and mauve sapphire fabric with a pleating of diamonds and emeralds, and hides behind her fan, Danica is dressed with yellow sapphires and diamonds.
The Souliers précieux clip alludes to the nights described in the fairy tale: it has the shape of a lapis lazuli cushion that overlaps a spessartite garnet, troidia cut (similar to half marquise with rounded sides), of 6.91 carats, emeralds, lapis lazuli, pearls of white culture, diamonds. The transformable necklace and the Rubans de princesse earrings are also part of the line inspired by the worn-out shoes of princesses. Two lines of round cut diamonds and a central third formed by baguette-cut diamonds set horizontally underline the delicacy of the décolleté, evoking three silk ribbons: in all they are 22.87 carats. Intertwined with each other, they fall lightly with three important drop-shaped diamonds. The exceptional whiteness (D), the purity (FL) and the quality of the stones (type 2A) recall the mythical ones of the Golconda mines. One of the diamonds, separated from the necklace, can be worn as a pendant on a thin white gold chain, while the other two are added to a pair of earrings.
It seems a tale also the Traversée Étoilée bracelet, which is made of two Burmese cut-off sapphires for a total of 50.03 carats. They have an intense blue color that recalls the waters of the lake, mentioned in the fable of the brothers Grimm, which is crossed every night by the princesses to reach the ballroom. The inside of the bracelet has decorative motifs engraved in gold: a palace under a starry sky on one side and the boats proceeding on the waves on the other.
At last, in this collection there is a ring with a concave shape, it alludes to the cup of wine with a sleeping pill that the astute princesses offer to those who must guard them. The ring has a pink oval spinel of 6.25 carats surrounded by a multitude of suiffé rubies. Alessia Mongrando