Brief: Van Cleef & Arpels finds inspiration in dark fairy tale from Perrault

The Peau d’Ane collection will be on display at the Paris Biennale des Antiquaires in September. Photo courtesy Van Cleef & Arpels.

The Peau d’Ane collection will be on display at the Paris Biennale des Antiquaires in September. Photo courtesy Van Cleef & Arpels.

BY LESLIE JORDAN CLARY

Van Cleef & Arpel’s latest high jewelry collection, Peau d’Ane (Donkey Skin), takes one of Charles Perrault’s darkest fairy tales and turns it into a glittering recreation. More than 100 pieces recount the troubling tale of a princess who flees her father’s incestuous advances and disguises herself under a donkey skin to avoid detection. Each piece depicts a different scene from the life of the princess, beginning with her idyllic childhood and continuing to the final happy ending. The collection was created by Mains d’Or, master jeweler from Van Cleef & Arpels’ workshops.

—July 9, 2014