Paris, the City of Pearls

Visited a pearl exhibition over the weekend - Paris, City of Pearls, located at the Jewelry Arts Institute (L’École des Arts Joailliers), sponsored by Van Cleef & Arpels. The exhibition features exquisite and pure pearls as the main attraction, showcasing over 60 rare pieces of jewelry and art from French and international museums and private collections. Of course, it’s also interspersed with some print illustrations from the 1910-1950s surrounding these pearl works. The print quality is really quite impressive. 🌟 What’s incredibly fascinating is a piece by JAR, depicting a sleeping sheep, with delicate small pearls used to illustrate messy wool – absolutely adorable. 🐑 Another lively and cute piece is the Carnard à pêcher brooch. 🦆 I skimmed through the visual guide, which tells the story of natural pearl farming in the Persian Gulf, the Parisian jewelers’ frantic overfishing before and after the World Wars, and the eventual complete withdrawal from the Paris market, shifting instead to the development of artificial farming with Japan – a silent moment of reflection. 🤐 #ArtisticJewelry #JewelryExhibition #Paris #VanCleefArpels #Pearls