Family Values

The history, artistry and innovation of Parisian jewellery maison Van Cleef & Arpels is brought to dazzling life in a new exhibition. Tama Lung visits Milan for Time, Nature, Love

- Tama Lung

It’s a cool and blustery evening in Milan, with light rain falling as we bound along narrow cobblestone streets on our way to a neoclassical palace that sits in the shadow of the majestic Duomo and was once home to Napoleon and Ferdinand I. Save for the Christmas lights that twinkle outside the many luxury boutiques, all is dark and quiet until we climb the wide marble steps inside the Palazzo Reale to discover a universe of gold, diamonds and gemstones of every hue laid out in a maze of eclectically decorated rooms.

It’s here, in one of the city’s leading cultural institutions, that Van Cleef & Arpels has chosen to present its latest exhibition of jewellery, watches and precious objects. Van Cleef & Arpels: Time, Nature, Love follows recent shows in Singapore, Kyoto and Beijing but is the Maison's first in Italy, with more than 400 creations – and accompanying sketches, documents and gouache designs – from its century-old treasure trove.

Founded in Paris in 1906 following the marriage of Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels, Van Cleef & Arpels is already world-renowned for its innovative designs and precious objects inspired by nature, the arts, and a blend of cultures from Europe and as far a field as India and Japan. But, as this exhibition aims to reveal, its collection also tells a story of the 20th century, its shifting aesthetics and passing fashions, the rise and fall of empires and dynasties and, not least of all, its greatest love stories.

SHOW OF FORCE