The Van Cleef & Arpels saga started with the dynastic marriage of Leon Arpels' daughter Estelle to Alfred Van Cleef. Both the Van Cleefs and the Arpels family were renowned diamond merchants, and Estelle's husband joined up with his brothers-in-law in 1906 in opening up a store at 22 Place Vendome, the epicenter of the jewelry trade. The elegance of their designs and quality of their jewels made the firm an instant success. Since then Van Cleef & Arpels pioneered the minaudiere, a jeweled vanity case for ladies' cosmetics, patented an ingenious invisible setting for stones, and invented the fabled diamond "zip," among other renowned achievements. This lovely, full-color volume is a visual testimony to the success of one of the leading jewelers of modern times.
- ISBN10 0789302012
- ISBN13 9780789302014
- Publish Date 1 January 1998 (first published 15 February 1989)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 8 April 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Rizzoli International Publications
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 79
- Language English