When I opened up my Christmas presents this December, one of the heaviest and most intriguing packages revealed a bejeweled surprise: a copy of Vincent Meylan's
Van Cleef & Arpels: Treasures and Legends. I've been slowly working my way through the book, and I'm happy to say that it hasn't disappointed.
Meylan has used his access to the VC&A archives to produce a large volume full of high-quality photographs and fascinating anecdotes. The book is extremely substantial, weighing more than five pounds, and is among the largest of my books on royal jewels. At more than 300 pages, this is definitely a coffee-table book. And it's definitely attractive enough to display in your living room. The production value of the text is high, with a clean, striking cover design and glossy pages.
The content of the book is divided in eight sections. Four of these are focused exclusively on royal jewelry, with in-depth explorations of the VC&A jewels owned by the Maharini of Baroda, the Duchess of Windsor, the Princess of Rethy, and the former imperial family of Iran. I especially love that the book delves into the collections of royals from Asia and the Middle East rather than focusing solely on jewels worn by European royals. The pages on the Iranian jewels are especially fascinating, as the company played an interesting role in bedecking the last empress, Farah Pahlavi.
