It is undeniable: some auction houses have become trendsetters and not just for their attention to new forms of art like NFTs. Visit Sotheby's site, watch their videos, read about their auctions and discover inspiring lots, rare trinkets, vintage fashion pieces and intriguing juxtapositions between art and textiles. Yes, that's true, most of us can only look at these pieces, especially when it comes to rare fine jewels, as these sparkling gems, decadent diamonds, alluring aquamarines and magnificent opals are destined to the very few billionaires of the world. That said, we can all pretend we are shopping for something extraordinarily unique from an exclusive auction or from the vault of an eclectic collector.
Quite often these auctions end up being almost more educational than a museum visit, after all, official institutions may not have the money to buy certain pieces or they may not be interested. So the current selections offered by auction houses end up providing creative minds with some truly wonderful ideas. Obviously, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Tiffany's and Pharrell Williams seem engaged in the same window-shopping exercise at exclusive auctions that many of us are finding so entertaining and almost even educational.
Yesterday, at Kenzo's show in Paris, Pharrell Williams donned sunglasses rimmed in diamonds and with an emerald studding on each temple. He didn't give us the details, but he announced a new design collaboration - or rather partnership (maybe to be unveiled next year) - with Tiffany & Co, now owned by LVMH. The exquisite sunglasses were just a sample, an idea of what may follow. This is actually not the first time Williams tries his hand at jewelry design: in 2008 he collaborated with Louis Vuitton on a fine jewelry collection and, being a Chanel ambassador, he often wears the French house's pieces.
The problem with these sunglasses, though, was that they aren't that original: they are indeed the revised version of two pairs of extraordinarily unique spectacles, incorporating lenses made of emerald and diamond rather than glass, that were on auction last year at Sotheby's.
The jewel-encrusted spectacles, believed to have originally belonged to royals in the Mughal Empire which once ruled over the Indian subcontinent, were part of the Arts of the Islamic World & India auction that took place last October and they were exhibited to the public in Hong Kong and London.
On Sotheby's auction catalogue the magnificent artefacts were described by William Dalrymple, Writer & Historian as "the work of a supreme master, both of gemstones and of optics. This is a slice of diamond and a slice of emerald; through which you can see."
The "Emeralds for Paradise" spectacles featured emerald lenses (from gemstones from the Muzo mines, at the foothills of the Colombian Andes; the richness of their saturation and depth of their green hue is an indicator of their origin) in diamond-mounted frames.
The drop-shape lenses (of approximately 20mm width, 30mm length and 2.95mm thickness) from the 17th century (circa) were made from two flat cut emeralds, and set in a silver frame (19th century) mounted with old-cut smaller diamonds and emeralds. The spectacles look exotic and glamorous, something that the Wizard of Oz may wear.
The second pair of spectacles, dubbed "Diamonds for Light", had transparent diamond lenses in an ovoid-like form (measuring approximately 26mm in length and 1.60mm in thickness). In this case the diamonds probably came from the famous Golconda mines of Southern India, known for supplying the largest diamonds to the Mughal treasuries (the region produced some of the most famous diamonds in the world). The spectacles got this name for the association of diamonds with light and the Muslim symbolism of light with the presence of God.
While the extraordinary pieces appeared on the market only last year at Sotheby's and were previously unseen, there are lengthy and scholarly researches about them as their conception and production fascinated many. The two pairs of spectacles bring indeed together science, beauty and belief.
Researchers were mainly fascinated about the way the gems (the lenses were made from a single 300-carat emerald and a single 200-carat diamond, possibly the largest ever found) were sliced to create the lenses as this stage would have required extraordinary technical skills and mastery (remember that the Mughal gemstone cutters carved them by hand…).
Another aspect that fascinated the researchers that studied the emerald spectacles is the Islamic association (the Mughal rulers practiced Islam) of the colour green with that of paradise, salvation and eternity. Emeralds were indeed held to have miraculous healing powers and to ward off evil.
According to Pliny the Elder's "Natural History", emerald could soothe the eyes; Emperor Nero used emeralds to watch the gory gladiator combats, thus protecting his sight from the bloody scenes, while beryls framed as spectacles were also found among the belongings of Charles V of France, confirming their status as reserved for Emperors and Kings. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan is said to have used emeralds to soothe his tired eyes after weeping for days following the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal (for whom he built the Taj Mahal).
The frames of the spectacles also had a very interesting story: the lenses were probably part of an optical apparatus, probably in the form of a pince-nez. This style of glasses was favoured by Jesuit missionaries and their arrival at the Mughal Court at the end of the 1570s may have also influenced the spectacles' original frames.
Pince-nez often appeared in artworks found at the Mughal court such as Farrukh Beg's "Miniature with a Sufi Sage, after the European Personification of Melancholia" (Folio from an album belonging to Shah Jahan, ruler of the Mughal Empire. Ca. 1615-1616; if you analyse it carefully, you will spot two pairs of pince-nez on a table).
The lenses were later integrated into new frames (in silver for the emerald spectacles; gold for the diamond ones), that could probably be dated around the 1890s. The frames were decorated with rose-cut diamonds set in the Pachchikam technique, incorporating at the same time a European open claw design, popular in the 18th-19th century. When the emerald and diamond Mughal spectacles were auctioned, chairman of Sotheby's Middle East and India, Edward Gibbs stated in an interview, "As far as we know, there are no others like them." Well, now there is another pair around, a copy of those spectacles.
Pharrell Williams' spectacles for Tiffany call to mind for their shape, use of diamond frame and single emerald studding on the temple, the emerald Mughal spectacles. In this new version, though, Tiffany replaced the emerald lenses with dark ones, something that transformed the concept behind the glasses, that turn from a masterpiece of craftsman with mysterious healing power into a high-end accessory.
You do not need to wonder why Tiffany had to copy these magnificent artefacts, you can perfectly guess it - nobody can indeed sue you if you copy an extremely rare artefact from the Mughal era (besides, let's face it, they may be from the Mughal era, but they look remarkably on-trend...).
As members of hip-hop groups can often be spotted wearing diamond-studded spectacles, producing such a design is obviously a way to reach out to more fashionable, younger and extremely wealthy consumers. LVMH, Tiffany & Co.'s new owner, is also hoping to renew the historical jewelry house, through super hip collaborators like Williams.
At the end of last year Tiffany and cult streetwear brand Supreme came together releasing a logo T-shirt in Tiffany blue (Pantone 1837 C; rather than Supreme red), a bracelet, a pearl necklace, a heart tag pendant, heart tag earrings, and two keyrings, one of them featuring a pocket knife shaped like a key. The problem with such collaborations is that they generate immediate media revenue, but they do not contribute to create the next Elsa Peretti.
The Italian-born former Halston model who became a jewelry designer, created for Tiffany a series of iconic designs, from the diamonds and pearls "by the yard" concept and mesh pieces to her "Bone" cuffs, a fluid design incorporating organic forms that pay homage to the human body. Available in its small, medium and large version, this piece moved from anatomy as it consisted in a wide metal band with a protuberance that allows the bracelet to fit comfortably over the wrist bone.
Jumping on the hippest bandwagon is definitely rewarding for what regards social media, but lethal in the long run: Pharrell Williams in his amazing diamond spectacles was a perfectly Instagrammable moment with the potential of getting the media revenue skyrocketing, but Peretti's bone cuff remains an iconic piece that even mere mortals may be able to afford (if you opt for the small version in silver or black finish over copper).
Peretti's pure, minimalist and timeless designs had an important role in Tiffany's net sales, but they made history mainly because they were created for women who could buy the pieces for themselves (rather than being gifted them by men...).
Tiffany's diamond spectacles donned yesterday by Pharrell Williams remind us about two things: first and foremost while the Mughal Empire was renowned for advancing jewelry craftsmanship across South Asia and had master artisans, we, in 2022, have simply finished original ideas; second, while there will always be a sort of insurmountable gap between certain brands such as Tiffany's and most consumers out there, there is still something that definitely unites us mere mortals with them - a passion for looking at antiques on sale from top auction houses, with the difference that we can only desire such pieces, they, instead, are able to reproduce and resell them as well.
Comments