Van Cleef & Arpels ''Bagatelle" Bracelet
$65,000
This casually chic “Bagatelle” domed bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels is topped with playful gold beads, and scattered with richly-colored blue sapphire and diamond blossoms, presenting a complex visual and tactile texture with organic appeal. A product of a lost art, the bracelet’s superb construction—with its exquisitely articulated micro-springs and hinges—makes it uniquely flexible, soft and comfortable to wear.
- Product Details
- Curator's Notes
Artist: Van Cleef & Arpels, Paris
Country: France
Circa: Late 1940s, Early 1950s
Size: 8.25” length, 0.625” width
Materials: 61 Round-cut sapphires (approximate total weight 6.00 carats); 58 Round brilliant-cut diamonds (approximate total weight 6.00 carats); 18K Gold
Signed: “Van Cleef & Arpels,” “Made in France,” “NY40331,” with maker's mark for Pery et Cie
Literature: Similar bracelet is pictured in Van Cleef & Arpels, by Sylvie Raulet, Rizzoli, 1986, p. 236
This beautiful bracelet belongs among a group of post-war designs from Van Cleef & Arpels, representing the youthful spirit of the early artistic co-directors, René Sim Lecaze and Renée Van Cleef Puissant. When the massed gold beads, referred to in the market as "Couscous," was paired with "Hawaii" flowers, the overall design was called "Bagatelle." Sometimes worn two to a wrist, these bold bracelets defined the relaxed elegance of cocktail hour and women's renewed social freedom of the time.