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Lot Essay
BALLERINAS
Femininity, nature and grace have always provided constant inspiration for exquisite jewellery creations. Some of the most enduring and charming examples of this inspiration are the Ballerina designs, which were invented at the beginning of the 1940s in New York. The ballerinas also appeared in France in the mid-1940s and remained a key jewel until the end of the 1960s when their production ceased.
Very rare, the ballerina clips were a creative collaboration between Maurice Duvalet, John Rubel, the House's manufacturers who had just emigrated from Paris, and Van Cleef & Arpels, whose inspirational force was Louis Arpels' passion for classical ballet and opera.
Caught in graceful movement of various dance poses, their little faces were often represented by a rose-cut diamond, making the jewel come alive, while their costumes sparkled with rose-cut diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds or turquoises mounted in platinum or yellow gold.
In 1943, John Rubel also produced a special collection of 'Flower dancer' jewels, inspired by the orchid dancer of the Russian Dance in the Nutcracker Suite segment from the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia.
Bibliography:
S. Mizrahi-Rubel, John Rubel, the modern transformation of jewelry, Paris, 2013, pp. 150-151
P. Prodow, D. Healy and M. Fasel, Hollywood Jewels, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1992, New York, p. 136
Femininity, nature and grace have always provided constant inspiration for exquisite jewellery creations. Some of the most enduring and charming examples of this inspiration are the Ballerina designs, which were invented at the beginning of the 1940s in New York. The ballerinas also appeared in France in the mid-1940s and remained a key jewel until the end of the 1960s when their production ceased.
Very rare, the ballerina clips were a creative collaboration between Maurice Duvalet, John Rubel, the House's manufacturers who had just emigrated from Paris, and Van Cleef & Arpels, whose inspirational force was Louis Arpels' passion for classical ballet and opera.
Caught in graceful movement of various dance poses, their little faces were often represented by a rose-cut diamond, making the jewel come alive, while their costumes sparkled with rose-cut diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds or turquoises mounted in platinum or yellow gold.
In 1943, John Rubel also produced a special collection of 'Flower dancer' jewels, inspired by the orchid dancer of the Russian Dance in the Nutcracker Suite segment from the Walt Disney animated film Fantasia.
Bibliography:
S. Mizrahi-Rubel, John Rubel, the modern transformation of jewelry, Paris, 2013, pp. 150-151
P. Prodow, D. Healy and M. Fasel, Hollywood Jewels, Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1992, New York, p. 136