Modern Jewellery Icons #12: Boucheron’s Question Mark Necklace

In the annals of jewellery history, there are certain designs that stand out for their absolute originality and ingenuity. Way ahead of its time when it was envisioned in 1879, Boucheron’s Question Mark necklace is one such jewel. The definition of ground-breaking jewellery design, Claire Roberts explores how the Question Mark’s iconic status has endured for so long.

Dreamt up during the Belle Époque era in Paris, when opulent jewellery was the height of fashion, elaborately embellished with bows, ribbons, garlands and wreaths, Boucheron’s Question Mark necklace broke with convention with its intentionally minimalist design. Asymmetric in style, it was simple yet sensuous – the antithesis of the ornate designs that typified the period.