180. VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: 'RIBBONS' DIAMOND CLIP BROOCH, CIRCA 1937 Forming a stylised bow on an openwork setting, set throughout with brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds, signed VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, numbered, French hallmarks for 18K gold (750 ‰) and platinum (850 ‰), master hallmark for Dumont et Compagnie, size 5.50 x 5.50 cm, total gross weight 46.39 g, accompanied by a pouch and case signed by the house. In 1926, Renée Puissant, daughter of Alfred Van Cleef and Estelle Arpels, became artistic director of the House. Together with designer René Sim Lacaze, she demonstrated remarkable creativity and a keen sense of aesthetic innovation. This period was one of the most prolific in the House's history. It was during these same years that Van Cleef & Arpels began a close collaboration with the Sellier & Dumont workshop (which became Dumont & Cie in 1937). Together, they created exceptional pieces in the Art Deco style. The technical prowess of the time enabled the ingenious use of platinum and gold in the same setting, bringing movement and lightness to the jewellery. The curved lines, monochrome play and subtle contrasts between brilliant and baguette diamonds created volumes never before seen in jewellery. This "Ribbons" brooch has survived the decades without losing any of its modernity, thanks to both its technical virtuosity and its ability to keep pace with fashion trends. In the 1930s, the wearing of jewellery was transformed: it was no longer strictly codified. Women embraced new ways of adorning themselves - jewellery was worn over clothes or adorned on hairstyles, breathing new life into the art of adornment. The Dumont & Cie workshop also worked for other major jewellery houses of the period, including Lacloche, Mauboussin and Boivin. Comparable brooch illustrated in: - Atelier EXB, La Collection Van Cleef & Arpels, 1906-1953, 1926-1937 - Une identité singulière, Paris, 2023, p. 281 - Evelyne Possémé, Van Cleef & Arpels - The Art of High Jewelry, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2012, p. 110 - Sarah D. Coffin (ed.), Set in Style - The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels, New York, 2011, p. 222 - Sylvie Raulet, Van Cleef & Arpels, Paris, 1986, p. 192