Bejeweled Whimsy: The Genius of Jean Schlumberger
A silver-breasted bird with ruby eyes. A bioluminescent jellyfish with coiling tentacles. A honeysuckle vine with blooming flowers.
These are just a few of the animal and botanical motifs that can be found in the work of the artist-jeweler Jean Schlumberger (1907-1987), who looked to the natural world for inspiration when designing gem-encrusted bangles and baubles on behalf of New York’s Tiffany & Co. As Schlumberger put it, “I observe nature and find verve.” His work is imbued with a certain energy and vitality, as if the fish in Pisces (Poissons) will wriggle free or the harlequin-like fowl of Bird on a Rock will flit away.
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A new exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts presents 142 pieces of jewelry from the collection of Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910–2014), a prominent philanthropist and second wife of Paul Mellon (1907–1999), scion of the Mellon dynasty and patron of the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C.
Apart from her philanthropy, Bunny Mellon was a doyenne of glitz and glamor who befriended Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (later the Duchess of Kent) and the queen of letters, Vogue editor-in-chief Diane Vreeland.
Mellon also frequented Tiffany & Co., where she purchased fanciful jewelry and accessories designed by Schlumberger. The two soon became friends, united by a shared reverence for the natural world. While Schlumberger modeled his designs on the morphology of flowering plants or saltwater fish, Mellon was a horticulturalist who grew herbs, vegetables and wildflowers at Oak Spring Farm, a two-hour drive from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
At the behest of Mellon, Schlumberger designed garden-themed jewelry and decorative objects such as Flower Pot, a bejeweled sunflower in a terracotta pot, and Jasmine (Breath of Spring), which features nine diamond-kissed blossoms (and two unopened buds) suspended from a necklace with sixteen colored sapphires.
Apart from his relationship with Mellon, Schlumberger was a favorite of socialites and starlets, with a devoted clientele that included Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy. Born in eastern France, the jeweler came to the attention of Elsa Schiaparelli, a surrealist fashion designer, when he began making brooches from porcelain flowers found at Parisian flea markets.
After World War II, Schlumberger established a small jewelry store on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with Nicolas Bongard, a childhood friend. The two rose to prominence in 1956, when they were appointed vice presidents of an independent department in Tiffany’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue.
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Today, Schlumberger is one of the most desirable names in modern jewelry, thanks in part to his versatility. His predilection for foliate motifs is on display in this “Four Leaves” band ring at Betteridge (Greenwich, Conn.) and a sapphire thistle brooch at Shreve, Crump & Low (Greenwich, Conn.).
Notwithstanding his modern sensibility, Schlumberger also created less whimsical pieces, like an 18-karat gold rope twist ring at J.S. Fearnley (Atlanta, Ga.) and green enamel and diamond banana earrings, also at Shreve, Crump & Low.
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- Installation view of pailloné enamel-and-diamond bracelets and other pieces on a bed of river rocks. Photo by David Stover © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
The show at the Virginia Museum of Arts has a few whimsical touches that would have pleased Schlumberger: in one room, the walls are painted a color very near the robin-egg shade of the Tiffany Blue Box; in another room, an assortment of gilded pieces is displayed on a bed of river rocks. Elsewhere in the exhibition, an interactive gallery illustrates the jeweler’s process: every piece began as a graphite drawing on tracing paper, then a pen-and-ink illustration with touches of opaque watercolor, then a wax or clay model, and finally a prototype. Thus, Schlumberger brought glittering bangles into the modern age.
The Rachel Lambert Mellon Collection of Jean Schlumberger runs until June 18 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in Richmond.
