l'atlantide van cleef e arpels (english)

8/14/2019 L'Atlantide Van Cleef e Arpels (English)

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LATLANTIDE

Leaving the shores of Terra Ferma and its earthly wonders,Van Cleef & Arpels plunges to the depths of the sea to findAtlantis.

The House has rediscovered the mythical story of this lostparadise that was submerged by the sea; a kingdom of beauty,abundance and brilliant civilisation, and has called upon itsutmost creativity and skill to unveil the mystery.

Thus, Van Cleef & Arpels recreates the universe of this wondrousisle where Neptune reigned with his queen Cleita and their court ofnymphs, mermaids and other mythical sea-animals. Fantasticalcreatures, wondrous fish and extraordinary fauna arise from agreat wave of freshness and imagination, to form a collection offascinating jewels that reveals new figures and designs, usingintriguing precious gems.

Press contact:

Didem Turkmen

Rawaj International FZ-LLC

Tel. +971 4 391 3560 / 0248 Fax : +971 4 391 3564

Email: [email protected]


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The Odyssey to Atlantis

The Odyssey to Atlantis begins with the exploration of this secret universe and the

discovery, amidst the ocean waters and undercurrents, of the fabulous creatures that play in

the shining surf, such as Calypso, a pendant whose centrepiece is composed of a bloc of

onyx, set with diamond and white gold coral-like branches, Hra, a clip where Burmese ruby

spheres and diamonds adorn a 17, 92 carat natural pearl, or Mara, a necklace made of a

gradation of sapphires that highlight an incredible black opal, alive with green and blue sparks

of colour.

The Amentha necklace features three lavender blue chalcedony stones, delicately set in a

subtle combination of blue and pink hues which seem to sparkle like sapphire bubbles around

the neck whilst the open structure of the Amphrs necklace (there is no clasp), fans out in an

incredibly supple sea spray of diamonds and sapphires, cabochon rubies and white pearls.

More treasures imitate the sparkle of sun on water; the Coquillage clip whose diamonds seem

suspended in a precious swirl and ends with a briolette diamond, or the Ocan rings, one of

which boasts an exceptional 60 carat white cultured pearl set with diamonds in white gold

while the other is adorned with a spring green 20, 44 carat tourmaline.

Out of the silent blue depths swims the Oranda clip representing a lion headed fish, whose

body is entirely set with diamonds and whose fins are afire with cabochon rubies. He does not

disturb the slumber of the Nymphe endormie as she curls up on a magnificent black opal pendant.

Amentha Clip


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Cleitas jewels

The voyage continues as Van Cleef & Arpels unveils Cleitas jewels. Cleita, the ideal spouse,

mother and goddess whose intriguing treasures reveal a woman of timeless style...Treasures

such as the Nphle ring and necklace and its magnificent star sapphires or the diamonds of

the Cleita suite: a tiara and a necklace in white gold set with diamonds, each adorned with asumptuous rose cut diamond, and a betweenthefingers ring whose precious ribbon entwines

an elegant pear cut diamond.

Plunging to the indigo depths, the Anthlia suite, all in diamonds and sapphires, is inspired

by the curls of the underwater plants, while the Charis necklace deploys the transparent

swirls of a jellyfishs umbrella. The bold Thtis necklace, made up of a supple ribbon of

emeralds and diamonds, brings to mind the scintillating strands of sea-weed dancing in the

undercurrents, and the Thtis ring, highlights a splendid, 32.67 carat, mint green tourmaline.

Surging to the surface with scintillating grace, the Haliades bracelet and ring represent two

fishes, united in a diamond sea foam to symbolise happiness and the bond of love, while theminaudire shows them playing next to emerald studded sea grass. Lastly, like drops from a

wave of sea foam, the cuff bracelet, hair clip and ear-clips of the Aphrodite suite seem to

splash the air with diamonds.

Haliades bracelet


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Kingdom of Neptune

Sailing the worlds ocean, Van Cleef & Arpels discovers the Kingdom of Neptune, a

fabulous territory where the god of the all the seas appears on his chariot drawn by surf

coloured horses...One of these stallions is represented by a spirited bracelet and pendant,

where the horses mane transforms into a cascade of blue sapphires, diamonds and naturalpearls; or another, whose splendid mane spills across the round cover of a compact mirror, in

a wave of sapphires, diamonds and mother of pearl

Amongst the mythological creatures of this kingdom, the Amphitrite clip represents a

delicate seahorse made of pink gold, pink sapphires and diamonds, floating mysteriously in

the light. On his path is Ocanide; a clip whose movement transforms the creature into a

flower in a swirl of blue sapphires, Europe; a gossamer necklace made of diamond droplets

and the Nrde clip representing a wondrous nymph of yellow gold set with yellow and

white diamonds, gazing at the fabulous peach hued 7 carat spinal that rests in her open hand.

The oceans blue hues transform as one plunges deeper into it, as do the fascinating tones ofthe opal and grey pearls of the Cyllne necklace. The Scylla necklace - named after the sea

nymph who was changed into a dragon is intriguing: open and entirely articulated, it

represents a dragon-snake that softly winds around the neck and whose head and tail can be

transformed into two mysterious clips

Nrides clip


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Atlantide is a splendour. (). Its riches are infinite. Its seabed abounds with

natures goodness. Gilles Lapouge

Atlantis is a splendour. The size of two continents, this empire dating from the dawn of time

reigns beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the furthest reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. Its riches

are infinite. Its seabed abounds with natures goodness. Through its fields and forests roam

elephants, squirrels and every creature of earth and sky. Its countryside is filled with sweet

scent. Its cities built of white, red and black rock possess the beauty of barbaric marquetry.

This enormous empire is composed of five concentric rings of land separated by rings of

ocean. Its rulers are descendents of the titan Atlas, brother of Prometheus, whose daughters,guardians of the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides in the Canary Islands, are

called the Atlantides.

At the centre of the capital city rises a monument made of ivory and metal. This is the temple

of the god Poseidon, whose conch-shaped chariot is pulled by golden-maned horses. The

shrine is built around a stele upon which is inscribed the law of Atlantis. It is at the foot of

this stele that priests slit the throats of sacred bulls.

Upon this imposing labyrinth of sea, sky and earth, engineers constructed vertiginous works

of art: bridges and locks, subterranean lakes, canals, gangways, towers, roads, tunnels and

harbours.

Atlantis is a Venice of outrageous proportion. Like something out of a picture by Piranesi orone of his visions. Enormous fleets glide along the canals, for Atlanteans are seafaring people,

merchants and warriors. Its divinities are water gods: the Nereids, among them the

magnificent Amphitrite, seductress of Poseidon; the Oceanids; the Nymphs and their

procession of dolphins, seahorses and tritons.

Passing through porticos in the silky softness of twilight, we picture elegant youths slightly

capricious, perhaps dressed in tulle and netting, flowing tunics, satin dotted with tourmaline,

aquamarine, opals and sapphires as blue as the sea. The gods had the novel idea of endowing


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the island with a metal unknown to man: orichalcum, nearly as precious as gold, and fire-like.

What mortal with an ounce of sense wouldnt wish to own an orichalcum necklace, a ring or a

pendant made of flame? Who wouldnt gladly sell half his soul for a bit of orichalcum finery?

We would like to take a look around this sea kingdom, but how do we get there? The roads

leading to the great empire are not to be found on any map. Even its discoverer, Plato, never

saw it, though this fact in no way diminishes his merit, since finding a land that no one cansee requires a great deal of genius. Moreover, Plato can be excused for his ignorance: Atlantis

sunk beneath the waves thirteen millennia ago, nine thousand years before Platos birth in

Athens.

So? Did Plato play a trick on us? Was the empire of the sea a mere product of his lyrical

mind? Is it an illusion, an object of desire, an intellectual distraction, a hoax? Plato, the

greatest philosopher of all time, is anything but a prankster, however. He was never one for

speaking nonsense.

In Timaeus and Critias, he takes great pains to convince us that Atlantis is a reality. He

provides details. He names his sources: in ancient times, Egyptian priests of the temple of

Sais first spoke of Atlantis to another Greek philosopher, Solon. From then on, the secret

travelled from philosopher to philosopher before finally reaching Plato. Without a doubt, ifwe value Platos word, Atlantis is no fable. Atlantis stands firmly on our shores, at the

threshold of human history.

In Critias, Plato describes the sinking of Atlantis: such a jewel is not to everyones liking. Its

prosperity and great beauty, its rivers of precious stones and its mines of orichalcum, its

princes, and its magnificent women all of this fosters jealousy. Zeus, who never much liked

his brother Poseidon, worries that the Atlanteans, heady with glory, have forgotten the rules

of wisdom and modesty. He puts an end to the adventure. He proceeds with a certain

brutality: in the space of one night and one day, an earthquake sends Atlantis plummeting to

the bottom of the sea. And since Zeus appreciates a job well done, he adds a flood (or three or

four) for good measure. Critias has nothing more to say on the matter. The story ends

abruptly, whether because Plato was weary and approaching death, or because the end of thetale has similarly vanished into the abyss.

Sad and fateful day! The great island sits at the bottom of the sea. The maritime empire is no

more. But mourning does not come to Atlantis. It bides its time a few centuries after Plato's

death before leaving the watery depths and embarking upon its long resurrection. Never was it

more active than the moment it ceased to exist. Rather than languishing peacefully in its

eternity of blue, Atlantis floats to the surface. It moves. It refuses to stand still. It migrates.

Atlantis is a nomad. It travels on every compass rose, between north and south, Orient and

Occident.

Civilizations follow its every move. For twenty centuries, an army of scribes and scholars,

monks, astrologists and magi, geographers, geologists and poets pursue it. From time to time,its appearance is announced here or there, generally in maritime settings, in isles or geological

zones conducive to tumult.

The Canary Islands are an obvious choice. Everything seems in their favour. They are made

up of seven islands, a sacred number. Quite popular throughout antiquity, they possessed the

Garden of the Hesperides and its golden apples. Later, they are forgotten. No one knows what

became of them. It is not until 1402 that a Norman sailor, Jean de Bthencourt, catches sight


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of them again. There, he is received by an unknown people, the Guanches, who are, of course,

the Atlanteans.

There are other candidates. Crete, in the Aegean Sea, has its supporters, among them Jacques

Cousteau, who often plumbed its inlets in search of Cyclopean walls. There is no lack of

arguments in favour of Crete: as early as the third millennium, at the dawn of history, it

formed a thalassocracy (or sea empire), as did Atlantis. And at the centre of the island, inits labyrinth, reigned the Minotaur, the monstrous bull risen from the sea by Poseidon and

who feasted upon young women and men offered up by Athens every seven years. Another

coincidence: the dazzling Minoan civilization disappeared in 1500 BC, following a volcanic

eruption on Santorini.

The most brilliant minds join the debate, put their two cents in. At the beginning of the 19th

century, the naturalist Georges Cuvier reminds us that, nine thousand years prior, the natural

dam of the Bosporus, located on the Eurasian tectonic plate, collapsed, causing the flood

mentioned in the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh. Nine thousand years brings us right around the

time of the sinking of Atlantis.

Scholars are unable to follow all of the lost continents activity. It moves too quickly, it is

capricious, lacks steadfastness. Twenty times it was spotted; twenty times it slipped away.Some caught sight of it near Gibraltar, most closely following Platos original text; others

even saw it in the Bay of Cadiz, not far from the Atlas Mountains which bear the name of

Atlantiss first king. The island of Cyprus, the Azores, Sardinia all have their partisans.

The seekers subtlety is peerless. One of them swears that after the flood, Atlantis foundered

at the other side of the ocean. He finds traces of it in Rio de Janeiro, on an enormous boulder

called la Pedra de Galvea, shaped like the head of an Atlantean and decorated with

indecipherable graffiti of a Phoenician appearance.

Further complicating matters is the fact that the survival of Atlantis does not depend solely on

historical and geographical elements. It is also revelatory of religious or political

preoccupations. In the 17th century, a reputed Swedish scholar, Olas Rudbeck, realizes thatAtlantis is at his doorstep. The magnificent empire is, quite simply, Sweden.

Another possibility emerges: Biblical scholars investigate the matter and quickly come to the

conclusion that following the catastrophe, a group of Atlanteans slipped in amongst the

earliest Jews: Jericho, cosmic phenomena, divine wrath, an exiled tribe - Plato's story holds

up.

The Hermeticists are not to be outdone: in their opinion, the Atlanteans possessed esoteric

knowledge. Hence, it suffices to decrypt as only they know how the hieroglyphics left by

the Atlanteans on the pyramids of Egypt, in the caves of the Hittites, in the intertwined

arabesques of Irish art or on the islands of the Pacific in order to reconstruct the beginnings of

human history. The alchemists devote their energies to orichalcum: to them, this flame-likemetal represents the gold of the philosophers stone the ancient philosophers of Pragues

Golden Street collected in their alembics.

A fourth family of Atlanteans accounts for sacred places so foreign to human memory it is as

if they were sculpted by no one at all, or perhaps by gods of the abyss. Such are the stone

giants who watch over the vast Pacific on Easter Island, off the Chilean coast. Or the

megaliths of Brittany, the dolmens and the menhirs, whose dimensions defy all human

enterprise. A bit further north, in England, the site of Stonehenge plunges us into a similar


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state of wonder : the alignment of its steles depicts geometrical forms so precise and so

learned that they no doubt constitute a clock marking the passage of geological, historical, and

cosmological time.

Numerous novels, films, plays and comic books borrow from Atlantis. Pierre Benoits novel,

The Queen of Atlantis, is famous. In it, Platos city is transported to the Ahaggar Mountains in

the Sahara. There, a young woman reigns in ornate palaces of unspeakable luxury. Her nameis Antinea. She wears a tunic of netting glazed in gold, ever so light and held barely in place

by a muslin sash embroidered with irises of black pearls. Though she may be beautiful, her

habits are reprehensible. Her favourite past time is seducing young French officers who come

her way. She takes their lives, embalms them and deposits their exquisite corpses in niches

found in the hall of red marble .

Pierre Benoits novel is quite beautiful, but it is unfaithful to the genius of the founding tale.

He erects his Atlantis in the ground, at the heart of the African continent, far from any shore,

while Plato evokes a city of waves and spray, of tempests and tranquillity, of sea foam and

ships and harbours. The Romantic and the Symbolist movements concoct a far more precise

impression of Atlantis: the images they depict celebrate the mysterious, fluid and elusive

universe of the sea.At times, they expound upon the magnificence of the capital city, when kings and their

betrothed reigned over the vast territory of the ocean. At other times, they lead us into the

ruins of sunken cities after the catastrophe, into brightness so soft and blue its like caressing

the sea depths themselves, amidst palaces, marble and hypogea, temples haunted by sea

creatures, sirens, medusas, tritons and water maids the lovely Atlantides.

Did Atlantis ever really exist? Did its temples cast their shadow on the edge of human history,

or only in Platos dreams? The debate is as eternal as it is futile. Whether Atlantis is a fable or

a chapter of history, it has obsessed entire civilizations for over twenty-four centuries. It

governs their fantasies, their afflictions, their sensual delights. The border between dream and

waking is tenuous, porous and forever fleeting. Mirages play an important role in the epic of

mankind. Perhaps all of history is merely that of our mirages.

Plato swears Atlantis is an episode of history. Let us trust him, but let us not forget that

history is made of the stuff of dreams : the countless peoples, the murmurs of waves and

swells, the heaps of gold, the regal women gliding with statuesque gestures along the islands

shores, the temples and the luster of their gods All of these are figments of both dream and

reality.

A lone light casts a halo over the buried shrines of the inhabitants of Atlantis, over the fleets

of Athenian sailors sent by Themistocles to face the squadrons of Xerxes. The banners of

Alexander the Great and those of the great Chinese fleets could just as easily whip in the

tempests of Atlantis, and there would be nothing unusual about finding the hundred bronze

doors of the first Babylon, the labyrinths of Crete or the clash of Ottoman and European shipsat the battle of Lepanto at the centre of the lost empire. Are reality and dream distinguishable

from one another? Platos tale intertwines them. He makes them one. Within the maze of the

ocean, the gods of Atlantis still clamour in the abyss, the echo of which human history

ensures never ceases to reach our ears.

Gilles Lapouge


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LAtlantide collection

Odyssey to Atlantis

Amentha Clip

Clip in white gold set with pink and blue sapphires gradation and rubies, round diamonds

Calypso necklace

White gold set with round diamonds, onyx and red coral

Cleitas jewels

Haliades Ring

Ring in white gold, round and baguette-cut diamonds, calibrated sapphires

Ring in white gold set with round diamonds

Kingdom of Neptune

Amphitrite Bracelet

Bracelet in pink gold set with a gradation of pink sapphires and round diamonds

Ocanides Clip

Clip in white gold set with gradation of pink sapphires and round diamonds, face in a rose-cut

diamond

Clip in white gold set with blue sapphires and round diamonds, face in a rose-cut diamond

Clip in white gold set with round and baguette-cut diamonds, yellow gold set with yellow

diamonds, and face in a rose-cut diamond.

Nrides Clip

Clip in yellow gold set with yellow and white diamonds

l'atlantide van cleef e arpels (english)

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