Van Cleef & Arpels

This ruby and diamond clip-brooch is featured in an advertisement, published in  Vogue Paris in 1937, where it is displayed amongst ruby and diamond mystery-set jewels by Van Cleef & Arpels. Though unsigned, the brooch is indicative of Van Cleef & Arpels’ stylistic evolution during the mid-to-late 1930s. At the time, jewelry design was moving away from the geometric art deco style to a bold and sculptural aesthetic that would stay in vogue until the mid-1950s. 

The brooch’s large scale, rounded contours and generous use of cushion-shaped rubies, bring to mind Van Cleef & Arpels’ most emblematic creation of 1937: the 'Wedding Contract' bracelet commissioned by the Duke of Windsor. To commemorate the signing of their wedding contract, the former King Edward VIII gave his bride-to-be Mrs Simpson a sumptuous bracelet of jarretière design composed of a buckle set with cushion-shaped sapphires on an articulated strap of round diamonds, accented by baguette diamonds. Though signing a wedding contract may seem purely pragmatic to most couples, for them it was a significant milestone in their complicated relationship that warranted a jewel reflecting its importance. The bracelet was touchingly inscribed ‘For our contract 18-V-37’. A few weeks later, on June 3, 1937, the Duchess of Windsor wore this bracelet together with her iconic ‘Wallis blue' Mainbocher wedding dress during her nuptials held at the Château de Candé. That day she also wore a sapphire and diamond brooch of scroll design, also by Van Cleef & Arpels. The sapphire and diamond bracelet was designed by René-Sim Lacaze, Van Cleef & Arpels’ lead designer, who more than anyone else was responsible for the company’s stylistic evolution during the mid-to-late 1930s.