Yes I know I’m biased, with antennae fine-tuned to history, both the past and living history, but it seems to me that antique jewellery is having a real moment, one that looks likely to exert a stronger than usual influence on the contemporary. And I mean antique, not just vintage, not just 20^th century, not just the mega-makers, but genuine antique jewellery, of the 18^th and 19^th century.

There’s some serious dust-busting going on, blowing away the cobwebs from Georgian and Victorian styles, looking beyond the reassurance of a signature or the label of a known maker or Maison, instead digging deeper into social and cultural history, into lost virtuoso skills and storied gems. Particularly into the associations of the jewel with royalty, nobility, power and authority.  

Last week I was privileged to join the events at L’École des Arts Joaillier, Paris, celebrating the long-awaited launch of Divine Jewels – The Pursuit of Beauty, the magnificent book (published October 3^rd by Flammarion) that lifts the lid on the treasure chest that is the Albion Art collection, Tokyo. 

Assembled over some 40 years by Japanese antique jewellery dealer and connoisseur, Kazumi Arikawa, the Albion Art collection is recognised as the most important private collection of historic jewels in the world. It tells the story of jewellery from its earliest origins in Mesopotamia, through the devotional and allegorical jewels of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, to the poignant poetry of Art Nouveau artistry and the grandeur of Belle Epoque diamonds, reaching into the 1930s, with just a glimpse of the 1950s in the shape of a Van Cleef & Arpels ballerina brooch.

For any jewellery-history devotee, the Albion Art collection represents the pinnacle of perfection, and yet it has never been seen in its entirety and has until now remained something of an enigma.  I’ve been lucky enough to experience Mr Arikawa’s presentation of selected jewels, in his cathedral-like salon in Tokyo, an unforgettable, ritualistic affair, preceded by a traditional tea ceremony conducted in the tea house he has reconstructed, secreted next to his office. Now the book, written, with Arikawa, by the renowned jewellery historian and scholar, Diana Scarisbrick, reveals 250 of the most meaningful masterpieces in the collection of some 500 works of art, many now in private hands, but designated as part of the Albion Art collection. 

Upgraded and refined through the decades, the collection is especially rich in engraved gems, cameos and intaglios, and in tiaras, Arikawa’s twin passions.  He sees gem engraving – one of the earliest of human artistic expressions – as a truly noble art form and the tiara as a wondrous, near-magical object, akin to a halo or aura, capable of transforming the wearer. This hints at Arikawa’s very particular philosophy, fuelled by his earlier training as a Buddhist monk, and his unshakeable belief in the sacred power of beauty.

It is the ultimate beauty that he sees encapsulated in the art of the jewel, in its unique meeting of man and nature, of gems, gold, artistry, craftsmanship, message and meaning, of the physical and metaphysical.  It is the power of beauty that he feels is lost in today’s world, and that he is on a mission to restore and to share through his pursuit of the most sublime and meaningful jewels of history. 

With a certain synchronicity, this week saw the re-emergence at Sotheby’s of a mesmerizingly magnificent 18^th century diamond necklace of immense historical significance. The necklace, set with some 300 carats of old-mine brilliant cut diamonds, is strikingly modern in form: a supple ribbon, in a négligé style, with no clasp, each end of which is finished with a stylised tassel, a reminder that so often jewels – think of the bow knot or even the brooch itself – evolved from the fastenings of clothes and costume. The stylisation is typical of 18^th century diamond jewels, and this stunning and rare specimen seems certain to have had a royal, noble or courtly origin. Sotheby’s even embroiders this conjecture over provenance, with the storytelling suggestion that some of the diamonds might even have come from the infamous necklace, made to dupe the ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette in the scandalous Affair of the Necklace, one of the sparks to ignite the French revolution.  

What is known is that the necklace made its way into the possession of the Marquesses of Anglesey, worn in 1937 to the Coronation of George VI, by the Marchioness who was photographed by Cecil Beaton. It was sold some time in the 1960s by the then Marquess of Anglesey and has been secreted in a private Asian collection for 50 years. It will be offered for sale, along with other royal and noble jewels, at Sotheby’s Geneva, November 11^th. 

Andres White Correal, Chairman Jewellery Europe and Middle East, Head of Noble Jewels, calls it the ‘Ne plus ultra of 18^th century jewellery design’, and when he says  “The jewel is as relevant, alluring, and appealing today as when it was made over two centuries ago,” he’s highlights one of the main drivers of today’s trend towards the antique. What’s old is new. And at a time of such uncertainty, in a precarious world, while the past may well be a foreign country, it’s one that’s safer than the future. A safe haven, a retreat,  an invocation of continuity. 

Francesca Amfitreatrof’s High Jewellery collection for Louis Vuitton, Awakened Hands, Awakened Minds explored the cultural, technological and scientific achievements of 19^th century France, the time and place of the Maison’s birth. And at Dior, Victoire de Castellane channels the artistic splendour and intellectual brilliance of Versailles, fused with the spirit of couture. 

This week too, I noticed that Emily Satloff, founder of Larkspur & Hawk, creator of born-again Georgian-style rivière necklaces (the originals as worn, in layered abundance, by Anna Wintour) will be selling antique jewels, alongside her modern interpretations, this season. She calls it a full-circle moment, as her business was founded, in 2000, on selling antique jewellery, and mainly Georgian examples.

While, to coincide with Frieze, S. J. Phillips, the most famous antique jewellery dealers in the world, celebrate their 155^th anniversary with an exhibition of the Jonest collection of rings. Spanning two millennia, the rings,  royal and noble, political and romantic, unravel the many different roles of the ring and the intricacies of its connections, to culture, ritual, belief, memories and humanity in general.  

For me, it’s all about the ‘soul’ of antique jewellery, the charm, charisma, the spirit of both maker and wearer that persists and propagates through the centuries. It’s about a certain authenticity, meaning, dedication to craftsmanship and of course the intimacy of the jewel’s human connection. I’m thinking that we crave that connection today, just as we’re searching for soul and character in our jewels, for authenticity, (not just superficial decorative ornament), all of which  must surely be driving the taste for antique jewellery. 

So perhaps we should all join Kazumi Arikawa’s mission, his relentless pursuit of beauty, and see the jewel, not as fast-fashion accessory but as, he sees it,  the receptacle of the ultimate truth of the universe. 

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