Book Reviews

A Trio of Dream Titles

As it’s the season of goodwill, it seems only right and proper to treat someone. Yourself maybe… you’ve earned it. Here then are three recently published, beautiful books we suggest should be on anyone’s wish list.

Sapphire

A Celebration of Colour

By Joanna Hardy, edited by Robert Violette £85, Thames & Hudson

“Sapphire is an unassuming gem. It has been overshadowed by diamonds, rubies and emeralds for decades, but ignore it at your peril, for sapphire is a titan of the gemstone world.” So says Joanna Hardy as she introduces her definitive book, Sapphire – the third and final tome in T&H’s series on coloured gemstones, created in partnership with Gemfields.

The opening words of this beautiful, silkcovered hard-back book, sets the scene. “Sapphie naturally occurs in virtually every colour: blue to green and grey, yellow to orange, pink and purple…” but of course blue is the most famous. Every stone being unique, the range and tones and hues of blue are infinite. And because sapphire occurs in bigger crystals than ruby or emerald, the stone offers impressive scale. The ‘Showstoppers’ chapter demonstrates some of the rarest and more incredible sapphires of astonishing size, like the Blue Belle of Asia and the Siren of Serendip.

Hardy’s introduction to Sapphire takes us on a whirlwind tour of the 14 chapters, which really do cover absolutely everything we would wish to know. From ‘Early Trade’ which leads into the Middle Ages and along the Silk Road and maritime Silk Route, to ‘Medicine & Magic,’ ‘Regal Treasure,’ ‘Art of Collecting’ and ‘Sapphire Discoveries,’ Hardy’s exhaustive, in-depth research has taken her around the world, in real life as well as digitally, for the past two years. It encompasses subjects like early cuts, the potency of sapphire-set talismanic jewellery, blue sapphire in Hindu astrology and carved and engraved cameos and intaglios.

Following the pomp and circumstance of large sapphire jewels worn to impress and signify power and rank, the 18th and 19th centuries saw the gemstone appearing in tiaras and other pieces designed to enhance the wearer, pieces that were more romantic and often nature-inspired. Modern day royalty, such as Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth ll and Diana, Princess of Wales, were clearly not immune to sapphire’s charms, ditto Hollywood royalty, Joan

Residenz Munich

Crawford, Jean Harlow and Mary Pickford.

Throughout the book, sumptuous images of museum pieces illustrate the chapters as do portraits of celebrated owners of sapphire jewels and close-up studies of beautiful and noted sapphire jewellery from the renowned maisons, such as Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Bulgari, Suzanne Belperron and Shaun Leane.

Belperron cabochon sapphire bib necklace

Winged Beauty

The Butterfly Jewellery Art of Wallace Chan

Contributors: Melanie Grant, Vanessa Cho, Ming Liu, Dr Emily Stoehrer, Juliet Weir-de La Rochefoucauld £35, ACC Art Books In 2007, when Wallace Chan attended Baselworld, he was essentially unknown. But he was described as the Butterfly Man from China. Today, he is revered worldwide; his butterfly jewellery inspires the latest generation of designer makers to experiment with colour, materials and textures. This gloriously illustrated book offers an in-depth exploration of the life and work of a man described as a philosopher, artist, revolutionary and master jeweller who creates wearable sculpture.

Jewellery journalist Melanie Grant’s interview with Chan provides the book’s foreword – a revealing insight into the background, drive and ethos of the man. Born into extreme poverty but with a finely tuned appreciation of the beauty of the natural world and the fleeting nature of time, Chan’s work ethic and total dedication to his art is astounding. “Time,” he says, “is my biggest struggle in life.” Punctuated by stunningly detailed fullpage photographs, the book’s chapters encompass all elements of Chan’s art. Vanessa Cho explores why “so many artists made nature their principal source of inspiration” then homes in specifically on butterflies: “beyond the magic of flight and weightlessness, lepidoptera embody the singularity of metamorphosis… temporality and ephemerality – an aura of mystery and magic.” Jewellery, she adds “can transform the ephemeral into something long-lasting.” Another chapter explores how time, experimentation and trial and error sit alongside skill, talent and creativity in Chan’s work. How his work as a stone carver led to the Wallace Cut, an illusionary carving technique that incorporates the elements of cameo, intaglio and gem faceting. Chan is fascinated by the lightness of titanium; it took him eight years of experimentation to “understand and tame it.” The authors describe in detail his stone setting techniques and his mastery of colour choice. In all, a mesmerising, beautiful book.

The Soul of Jewellery

Published in collaboration with Maison Chaumet £65, Flammarion

With multiple contributors, The Soul of Jewellery offers unique and previously unpublished insights on the world of jewellery. Calling upon specialists from every creative and intellectual discipline – artist and composer, botanist and perfumer, novelist and philosopher – it examines jewellery in all of its facets, from anthropology to philosophy to art.

Alongside its sensitive and cultural foray into the art of jewellery making, the book is richly illustrated with drawings and archives from Maison Chaumet and photographs by Simone Cavadini and Julia Hetta that offer new perspectives on jewellery.

“We have sought to delve deep into the soul of these richly significant objects,” say the publishers. “We wanted this book to be a bold departure from well-beaten tracks; for it to dazzle the reader on an emotional as well as a rational level; for it to reveal, through the dual perspective of words and pictures, the purest, innermost essence of the extraordinary art of high jewellery, which mirrors the artistic, political, social and philosophical evolution of society.”

There is much in this book to absorb, so allencompassing are the ideas and revelations. The chapters take a discipline at a time, and so include jewellery as the object of nature, the earth (minerals), draftsmanship (the technical knowledge needed to conceptualise a jewel in two dimensions and then commit it to paper), architecture, artistic value, sensuality, desire, fashion, collectability. Each focus of attention is illustrated with images of Maison Chaumet pieces – certainly a way of looking at jewellery in a new light.