Treasure Island: Van Cleef & Arpels’ Most Fantastical High Jewellery Collection Yet

Van Cleef & Arpels has always been a master storyteller, with tales of magic, poetry, love and whimsy weaving through its watch and jewellery collections. The narratives dreamt up to accompany the Maison’s high jewellery launches are especially enchanting, with 2023’s Le Grand Tour collection offering a whistlestop trip around the European cities visited by the young aristocrats who embarked on this rite-of-passage journey through Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now, the brand has significantly upped the ante with Treasure Island. Let’s take a closer look…

Inspired by the world imagined by Robert Louis Stevenson in the classic adventure novel of the same name, Treasure Island is not only the largest high jewellery collection ever created by Van Cleef & Arpels. It is also one of the most spellbinding stories it has ever told, bringing to life pirates, desert islands, treasure chests, mermaids, marine creatures and mythological figures in what Van Cleef describes as “A voyage to the ends of the earth”. 

“You can create an island as you like, more or less in your own image, with coloured pencils, contours, coves, rocks, cliffs and relief,” said French Writer André Bay in the preface to the French edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. Van Cleef & Arpels’ vision for its Treasure Island is a fantastical voyage in which a crew of pirates braves the elements, in search of hidden splendours on a mysterious island where untamed nature reigns. Divided into three chapters, each draws inspiration from the Maison’s storied history, including archival creations, signature motifs and design influences from faraway lands.  

There is mystery at every turn, with the transformable Palmier Mystérieux brooch perfectly capturing this saga in three stages. Featuring a Traditional Mystery Set palm tree, lapped by the sea’s waves, the boat motif can be replaced by a golden rising sun and a treasure chest, prized open to reveal riches in the form of emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds. “Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island is a book laden with universal resonance and a powerful collective imagination,” says Nicolas Bos, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. “It has left its mark on millions of readers and influenced various artistic disciplines, including painting, poetry and the decorative arts. We have tried to bring it to life in a playful and entertaining way, with a High Jewellery collection which I believe awakens a feeling of joy.”

It would be impossible to mention all the creations in the Treasure Island high jewellery collection, which at the time of launch numbered upwards of 70. Instead, I am going to highlight the jewels that tell this majestic story best, in narrative order, transporting us from the high seas to a tropical island, where treasures beyond our wildest dreams await…

Chapter 1: Adventure at Sea

With its billowing sails and engraved rose gold boat, the Hispaniola clip marks the start of Van Cleef & Arpels’ epic tale. Mimicking the linen sailcloth used by ships in the 18th century, the era in which Treasure Island is set, diamonds are set to overlap at different angles, creating the illusion that this vessel is ploughing through the waves, powered by the world’s most precious sails. The rise and fall of waves, the soundtrack to a sailor’s life, is eloquently expressed in the Écume Mystérieuse necklace and Traversee Mystérieuse bracelet. The Maison’s signature Traditional Mystery Set sapphires spill over the front of the necklace, with sea foam interpreted as scrolling diamonds, and undulate around the bracelet, capturing the forces of the ocean. 

Sailing in search of treasure, the Poissons Mystérieux clip depicts a shoal of fish, swimming through waves of buff-top sapphires. Vitrail Mystery Set, the sapphires appear transparent as they graduate between shades of blue and violet. Four different sailor’s knots are recreated in yellow gold and diamonds in the En Haute Mer necklace, a transformable jewel with a detachable 55.34ct sapphire that can also be worn as the centre stone in a cocktail ring. Celebrating Van Cleef & Arpels’ mastery of braided yellow gold, sheet bends, carrick bends, reef knots and clove hitches entwine around the neckline in this masterpiece of craftsmanship. 

Finally, in the same spirit as the Maison’s figurative Fairy and Ballerina brooches, the Maison has recreated the main characters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book. The trio of pirate brooches even have names—John, David and Jim—with their realism achieved through intricate green wax sculpture work prior to the lost wax casting process. John’s billowing sleeves and feather in his cap are beautifully three-dimensional, while Jim, on lookout wearing a black lacquer eye patch, perches on the top of a mast wrapped in a sculpted gold parchment. 

Chapter 2: Exploring the Island

The second chapter sees the pirates drop anchor and set foot onto a dreamlike island, fringed by tropical vegetation and golden beaches glittering with precious seashells. The collection’s most playful pieces are housed in this chapter, among them the Palmettes earrings, with Traditional Mystery Set emeralds recreating the leaves of the palm tree, and a Tortue de Cocos brooch featuring a charming brushed-gold turtle, his body dotted with diamonds.

Shells provide the inspiration for my favourite pieces in the collection: the gorgeous Ondulations Marines earrings, which whorl around the ear, reproducing the spiral form of marine creatures. Finished with mismatched pear shape mauve and pink sapphire drops, the goldwork is exquisite, with the Maison’s craftspeople employing the ramolayé technique to hammer, engrave and polish the metal to recreate the coils on a seashell. 

With its Rococo flourishes, the Coquilles Mystérieuse bracelet wraps seashells around the wrist, set with buff-topped Traditional Mystery Set rubies. And the Coquillage Mystérieux clip has hidden treasure concealed on the reverse of the bejewelled clam shell: a creamy white pearl and a miniature fairy holding an emerald. 

Chapter 3: The Treasure Hunt

Inspirations traverse the world in Chapter 3 of Treasure Island, from pre-Colombian splendours to modern-day Rajasthan in India, culminating in a series of statement rings showcasing some of the Maison’s most sumptuous stones. Transcribing the shapes and colours of a treasure chest, the Coffré précieux ring is crowned with a 13.42 carat sapphire, surrounded by gold, buff-topped rubies and emeralds to indicate the four cardinal points on a compass. 

To locate the treasure, Van Cleef’s pirates have been gifted with the Carte au Trésor brooch. A yellow gold treasure map, tied with a twisted, tasselled rose gold cord, it is one of the most evocative jewels in the collection. Examining the craftsmanship more closely reveals an engraved map concealed within the rolls of parchment highlighting different locations on the island—Cape Tourmaline, Pearl Islands, Valley of Rubies, Sapphire Island and or Emerald Lagoon—with a ruby indicating the hiding place of the treasure chest.

Further bringing this historical novel to life, Van Cleef & Arpels commissioned the French comic book artist and author David B. to create a series of illustrations to accompany the launch of Treasure Island. Like the many exquisite jewels in this collection, his dreamlike visions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic tale of derring-do among pirates on the high seas are a complete joy to look at. Every season, high jewellery becomes more imaginative, more fantastical and more aesthetically brilliant. With Treasure Island, Van Cleef & Arpels has set the bar even higher.