LONDON — Animal imagery in jewelry goes back thousands of years, from the hieroglyphic birds of the ancient Egyptians to a 1,300-year-old Viking animal-head piece unearthed this summer in Denmark. Across the centuries these images were seen as symbols of power and wealth, then as taboo in certain cultures, but ultimately as a playful tapestry for designers and buyers alike.
A current trend toward elaborate animal designs — and some rather exotic animals at that — has turned display cases at several luxury houses into a sort of high-end sparkling zoo-cum-biology class.
Where some houses are known for specific, iconic animal motifs — the Cartier panther and the Bulgari serpent come to mind — others have widened their design range into a menagerie, from elephants to pandas to dragon flies to bees, often imagined in their natural habitat. It’s a modern touch to an ancient tradition.
“The Greeks and the Romans had panther heads and heads of animals facing each other, and animals have always been an expression of courage and social power,” said Pierre Rainero, head of Cartier’s department of image, patrimony and heritage in Paris. “But at the end of the 19th century animal jewelry was seen as not suitable for ladies belonging to society. Flowers were O.K. because they were seen as feminine, but only actresses and courtesans had the courage to wear animals.”
Still, things have changed over the past century or so, beginning in the Art Nouveau period in the 1890s. Animal motifs have popped up in hundreds of designs at dozens of houses.Continue reading the main story
Boucheron, for example, has become known for its intricate designs of hedgehogs, sea horses, lemurs, owls and flamingos. Frogs crawl over the dials of some Boucheron watches. The house’s new Nuri ring — Nuri means parrot in Indonesian — features a cockatoo with a pear-cut pink sapphire body, pavé blue, violet and pink sapphire wings and crest, and a diamond-set head with two violet cabochon sapphires, in white gold. There is also an all-diamond version of the Nuri, with an emerald eye.
“The nature of the animal designs allows followers of the collection to build and create their own menagerie,” said Claire Choisne, director of creations at Boucheron. “The animals they choose to wear on any given day may be dependent on their emotions, mood and style.”
Tapping into the individuality of the wearer is key in any jewelry design, and several houses have discovered the value of celebrating a particular culture, especially one steeped in an ancient belief in the powers of animal spirits.
Amrapali, one of India’s best-known craft jewelers, based in Jaipur, celebrates the country’s animal life — both zoological and in the Hindu pantheon.
“At Amrapali, we can’t compete with the big jewelers, so we have to be unusual and bold,” said Sameer Lilani, director for Britain and Europe at Amrapali. “One way we do that is by using a lot of emeralds, tanzanites and rubies.”
“Blue sapphires were traditionally worn only by royalty and certain families, but yellow sapphires are lucky for everyone, so we use that stone a lot,” he added.
Its individualistic style, combining bold colors and animal motifs, has made Amrapali a favorite with clients drawn to Indian heritage.
One example is a necklace of gold elephants. “This necklace symbolizes how elephants are seen travelling in herds, often in lines as they follow their migratory route around India,” Mr. Lilani said. “Ganesh, the elephant, is worshiped across India and symbolizes hope and good fortune.”
The symbolism that attracts clients to Amrapali also works for other jewelry houses in very different cultures. Different animals may symbolize power, but in almost all cultures animal jewelry has long been associated with wealth and royalty.
So it was perhaps no surprise when Floyd K. Roland, then premier of Canada’s Northwest Territories, gave a matching Harry Winston-designed polar bear brooch and cufflinks set in diamonds and platinum to Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, during their first royal tour of North America in 2011.
“By the late ’20s and early ’30s ladies were allowed to wear figurative motifs, starting with birds. In the late ’30s there was a sense of humor about it all with insects, dragonflies and lady birds,” said Mr. Rainero of Cartier. “Thanks to those people 50 or 60 years ago, there are no limits now. People can express themselves the way they want. They can have one piece that is pastel and fun, and then decide to wear a crocodile bracelet that’s a watch. That freedom is very modern.”
That freedom is what made animal imagery so bold, he said, citing the Cartier panther as an early example of a glamour with enduring appeal. Kanye West earlier this year bedecked his now-fiancée Kim Kardashian with up to $75,000 worth of Cartier panther bracelets.
“It is iconic because unconsciously the panther is known to be elegant but also ferocious and independent,” Mr. Rainero said. “It’s a metaphor for all of that.”
While another large and graceful cat is one of the enduring images of India, for Mr. Lilani the most iconic image at Amrapali is not a tiger but a peacock. The bird shows up in several designs, such as a gold, silver and diamond bracelet of two peacocks guarding domed minarets that made quite a splash when it was introduced last year, at a reported price of $50,000.
“People can always relate to animals, and everyone has their favorite,” Mr. Lilani said. “In India, we have a lot of symbolism in animals, as you do in many cultures, such as birds and mythical creatures.”
“We use tigers, of course, but we like to go slightly deeper,” he said. “The national bird of India is the peacock, which symbolizes grace, beauty and intelligence, and I think what we do with it is completely different and unusual.”
Sometimes animal symbolism may be about more than national culture, religious tradition or finding quirky ways to show a cute or slithery critter.
It can also be deeply personal. The Cartier panther is forever associated with the love affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, the divorced American for whom he abdicated the British throne in 1936 in order to marry.
The panther bracelet that he gave her sold for £4.5 million, or $7.3 million, at auction in 2010.
For Boucheron, another famous animal icon was also about love — though perhaps not quite so high-profile.
Frederic Boucheron, the company’s founder, “was drawn to the snake, believing it possessed protective properties,” Ms. Choisne said. “On the eve of one of his travels, Frederic gave his wife Gabrielle a snake necklace to protect her in his absence.”
“The snake from then on became one of the house’s most iconic designs,” she added. “It will always be that for us, no matter how many different jewels and colors we give it through the years.”Continue reading the main story