Why it’s bloom time for botanical jewels

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The desire to adorn oneself with flowers feels as natural as the motif itself: just think of young girls making daisy-chain necklaces or brides wearing wreaths of sweet-scented orange blossom on their wedding day as a symbol of purity and fertility. The botanical world has also long enamoured jewellers, who have sought to immortalise its rich tapestry of colours and fragile, fleeting beauty.

De Beers white-gold, diamond and turquoise Enchanted Lotus pendant necklace, £4,000

Harry Winston gold and diamond Lily Cluster necklace, POA

Graff white-gold and diamond pavé Wild Flower bangle, £12,000

Van Cleef & Arpels gold, agate and mother-of-pearl Pâquerette ring, £6,550

Jewellers have long sought to immortalise the botanical world’s fleeting beauty

Place Vendôme maison Van Cleef & Arpels’ bejewelled creations have looked to the natural world ever since its inception in the early 20th century, when its floral brooches decorated the bosoms of Paris’s high-society women. Its new Pâquerette ring, with gold beaded mother-of-pearl petals and a bold agate central stone, is a playful take on the childhood motif of the daisy. “King of Diamonds” Harry Winston’s openwork Cluster necklace, set with 619 scintillating diamonds, recalls the unfurling petals of a lily, while Swiss jeweller and watchmaker Piaget has created a whimsical brooch whose diamond-paved petals and spessartite, beryl and tourmaline leaves evoke a bouquet of blooming roses, inspired by chairman Yves Piaget’s love of the perennial.

Boucheron white-gold and diamond Lierre de Paris necklace, £114,000

Piaget rose-gold, diamond, spessartite, beryl and tourmaline Rose brooch, POA

David Morris gold and pink- and white-diamond ring, POA

Messika white-gold, diamond and turquoise Blooming Euphoria bracelet, POA

At Boucheron, ivy has been a signature motif since founder Frédéric Boucheron noticed the wild ivy growing under the arcades of his Palais Royal boutique in 1858. Creative director Claire Choisne pays homage to the untameable evergreen with a necklace whose tendrils of dainty white-gold leaves, accented with more than 1000 diamonds, appear to delicately coil around the neck. Graff similarly celebrates the untamed beauty of wildflowers with its bangle, whose florets incorporate an elevated centre diamond, with a hidden setting so that it appears to float. Though living blooms will wither and their petals fade to grey, these jewels will glitter forever.