Living Jewels: Masterpieces from Nature

Beautiful jewelry made from natural materials fill the pages of this sumptuous book. Organized by material—pearls, shells, coral, horn, wood, and much more—with an emphasis on important motifs of the jeweler’s art, the book features more than 300 brooches, necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets from the collections of the Duchess of Windsor, Diana Vreeland, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco, and Ellen Barkin, as well as from the design archives of Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Verdura, Bulgari, Tiffany, and many other important jewelry designers. Every major period of jewelry of the past 200 years is covered—Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Retro, and Contemporary. Many of the objects appear here for the first time.

The chapters include a variety of entertaining profiles on subjects such as David Webb; the changing fashions of the 1960s and 70s; Chanel; Orchids and Art Nouveau; the Grand Tour; Cartier and Art Deco; Ivory and the Nude; the Baroda pearls (the most expensive pearls to sell at auction); Paul Poiret; Boivin; A Mania for Motifs; JAR; Andrew Grima; and the Duchess of Windsor ("Small Woman, Big Stones"). Helpful sidebars cover various types of wood, famous pearls, and a lexicon of imaginary beasts in jewelry.