"Jewels and Literature"

L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts has partnered with the Bibliothèque Nationale, France’s national library, to present “Jewels and Literature,” a new digital dossier on Les Essentiels, the library’s cultural and educational resources website.

L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts was founded in 2012 with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels in the aim of sharing the jewelry arts with the widest audience possible, both in France and around the globe. Created in 2017 to grow knowledge in the field, its research department has joined forces with Bibliothèque Nationale de France to produce the “Jewels and Literature” dossier, available on Les Essentiels.

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Charline Coupeau, Ph.D. in Art History, Gemologist and Researcher at L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, was entrusted with this exploration of the overlapping worlds of jewelry and literature, a venture that brought L’ÉCOLE and the Bibliothèque Nationale—whose mission echoes that of L’ÉCOLE—closer together. Indeed, Les Essentiels disseminates and provides context for works to foster a better understanding of cultures and societies.

The “Jewels and Literature” dossier features a wealth of content around three themes: the place and role of jewelry in literature, literature as a source of inspiration in jewelry design and the ability of jewels to arouse emotions and foster dialogue between the authors and jewelers. It includes fascinating tales like the “affair of the Queen’s necklace” as well as original topics like the portrayal of jewelry in French-Belgian comics, a subject examined by Léonard Pouy, Ph.D. in art history and content & academic manager at L’ÉCOLE. Great literary figures including Jules Verne, Colette and George Sand are also evoked.

The dossier features the diverse expertise of a team of contributors. Among them, Céline Gaslain, Ph.D. in Art History and Archeology and Conference Project Manager at L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, sheds light on treasures of Mesopotamian literature that mingle mythical legends with tales of jewelry. Patrick Wald Lasowski, Professor Emeritus of Literature and essayist, looks at jewelry and eroticism in the Age of Enlightenment. And Claudette Joannis, Honorary Heritage Chief Curator reveals the story behind “Lou’s ring,” crafted on the front lines of war by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire for Louise de Coligny-Châtillon in 1915.

A rich diversity of content includes 16 articles written by researchers, in-depth thematic approaches and 120 excerpts from novels, poems, short stories, letters and memoirs. The dossier’s jewelry-related iconography is equally extensive, with 150 photographs, illustrations, drawings, engravings, prints and paintings from the Bibliothèque Nationale and other national and international museums, jewelry and auction houses as well as contemporary designers. 

Exploiting the portal’s full range of resources, “Jewels and Literature” also presents four thematic illustrated albums that explore different facets of jewels, literary excerpts, illustrations of jewelry in tales and fables and jewels bearing the written word. A wealth of topics is matched by a diversity of formats including an animated video on the anecdote of Balzac’s cane and a filmed interview of Rosalie Varda about the film Donkey Skin, directed by her father, Jacques Demy.

Because L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts aims to reach the general public without requiring any prior knowledge of jewelry, “Jewels and Literature” targets a vast audience, from amateurs and those motivated by simple curiosity to jewelry collectors, researchers and educators. The team behind the dossier also took young viewers and their parents into account, with nine recordings of tales from a host of cultures—Chinese, Iranian, Ethiopian and Japanese, among others—to draw children into the fascinating world of jewelry.

First launched in French, the content will be translated into English. This approach is consistent with the international dimension of L’ÉCOLE, which counts five permanent campuses, in Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai, and has welcomed more than seventy thousand students since it was founded twelve years ago. 

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