Remember that old joke about three people walking into a bar? Reimagine it now with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Lady Gaga, and Commodore Perry walking into a jewelry exhibit in Tokyo. Wandering through the ten rooms of the opening in the Tokyo Node gallery located in Toranomon Hills Station Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, each would have a story to tell—about jewelry, about history, and maybe even about themselves.
The , the legendary designer who joined Tiffany & Co. in 1956, will be on display. Mrs. Kennedy wore a Berry Spring brooch designed by him for Tiffany to the inauguration (it is currently part of the JFK Presidential Library) and she famously wore his enameled bracelet—a , and devoted Schlumberger patron, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon—so often it became known as the “Jackie” bracelet. And it is still available for sale at Tiffany stores in case you are interested. (Other Schlumberger patrons form a kind of Hall of Fame of great women: Jackie and Bunny, Elsa Schiaparelli, Diana Vreeland, Babe Paley, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo.)
Schlumberger’s Fleur de Mer clip, made for Tiffany in 1956.
The first of Schlumberger’s is part of the Tokyo exhibition too, a rare opportunity to see the beginning of an icon and trace its evolution—and the show concludes with the famed 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond, set in a transformable new creation inspired by those very brooches.
The Tiffany Diamond, reset in a configuration inspired by Schlumberger’s Bird on a Rock, closes the exhibit.
You might remember that massive diamond? Yes, , only the third person in history to wear it (Audrey Hepburn was the second). It began as a 287-carat hunk of rough stone discovered in the Kimberly mines of South Africa in 1877. It was acquired by maison founder Charles Lewis Tiffany a year later and he entrusted it to his famed gemologist George Frederic Kunz—for whom the the pink stone Kunzite is named—who cut the stone into a 128-carat cushion to bring out its brilliance. It was immediately recognized as a treasure and became something close to an American crown jewel. It was exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and made a rare appearance in the windows of Tiffany in 1955 in the hands of a gold wire angel.
Other archival gems on display include this Medusa pendant, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the early 20th century.
It’s gorgeous to look at but also very useful in reminding people of , who saw the potential in the stone, and had the bold foresight to entrust the expertise of a man like Kunz, whose eye and knowledge would change the palette of jewelry designers forever. Charles also had the pioneering attitude—and evolved taste—to offer select Japanese imports to his clients as far back as 1837, which makes the Tokyo exhibit something of a homecoming. The influence of Japan on Tiffany designers, including the founder’s son Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward C. Moore, and even Elsa Peretti, becomes apparent upon seeing the historic pieces all at once—and it’s one of the revelations made possible by an exhibit like this.
Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Dragonfly brooch.
“Tiffany has been inspired by Japan for decades,” said Anthony Ledru, President & CEO of Tiffany & Co. The influence of the Japanese woodblock prints and images of Japanese gardens that began to appear in European galleries and shops after Commodore Perry sailed into Tokyo harbor in 1853, effectively opening Japan to the world, is evident in works like the opal-dominant Medusa necklace and Dragonfly brooch by Louis Comfort Tiffany. A strong example of trade and travel opening the corridors of inspiration, a moment where jewelry not only made history, but history made jewels.
The “Tiffany Wonder” exhibit opens today and will run until June 23. And if you can’t make it to Tokyo, you can always head to the corner of 57th and Fifth in New York for a dose of wonder, and history. Since the Tiffany Landmark reopened the house has made a consistent effort to showcase archival pieces throughout the store.
Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes is a jewelry expert, and the author of Jeweler: Masters and Mavericks of Modern Design (Rizzoli).