Marlene Dietrich’s iconic Van Cleef and Arpels ruby and diamond bracelet is being auctioned at a beginning value of as much as $4.5million.
Marlene Dietrich’s iconic Van Cleef and Arpels ruby and diamond bracelet is being auctioned at a beginning value of as much as $4.5million
Worn by the late actress – who was killed by kidney failure at her Paris condominium in 1992 aged 90 – to the Academy Awards in 1951 and in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Stage Fright’, which was launched a 12 months earlier, the “sculptural” piece is a part of the upcoming Christie’s sale ‘The Magnificent Jewels of Anne Eisenhower’.
Claibourne Poindexter from Christie’s mentioned about it being a novel piece of “artwork”: “This bracelet is famous in a number of methods.
“It was one among (Marlene’s) favorite items of jewelry. It’s daring. It’s very massive in scale and has an exquisite curvature.
“She wore it so superbly in ‘Stage Fright’, an Alfred Hitchcock movie from 1950, and also you get this appreciation for a way sculptural the design is.
“It doesn’t actually match into any interval. It’s not artwork deco jewelry. It’s not retro jewelry. It’s simply form of excessive glamour. It truly is its personal murals.”
Marlene commissioned the piece from jewellers Van Cleef and Arpels in 1937 and it’s from a group amassed by Anne Eisenhower – an inside designer who died final 12 months aged 73, who was a granddaughter of President Dwight D Eisenhower.
Her different prized items going up for public sale in June embrace a Panthère de Cartier brooch and a Tiffany and Co artwork deco diamond bracelet bearing a rose design constituted of rubies and emeralds.
Christie’s Americas chairman Marc Porter mentioned: “From Marlene Dietrich to President Dwight D Eisenhower, the Anne Eisenhower Assortment traces the historical past of the final century via a single collector’s good ardour for wonderful jewels.
“Anne Eisenhower had a eager eye for the best examples of the jeweller’s artwork, and her assortment tells fascinating and interwoven tales of patrons and collectors.”
Anne purchased Marlene’s bracelet in 1992 and it’s the lot with the best bidding estimate within the upcoming public sale, of $2.5 million to $4.5 million.
The actress’ grandson Peter Riva mentioned the bracelet was created when one among Marlene’s lovers, ‘All Quiet on the Western Entrance’ author Erich Maria Remarque, informed her she ought to “take all her bits of jewelry and make them into one fabulous piece”.
He added: “It’s made up of diamond earrings, a diamond necklace, matching ruby bracelet and earrings, a few pins, all informed 30 issues.”
Designed by Louis Arpels and often known as a Jarretière bracelet (from the French phrase for garter), it consists of cushion-shaped Burmese rubies in addition to rectangular and baguette-cut diamonds, all set in platinum.
It comes with Mark Cross leather-based case with the initials M.D., and when the bracelet offered in 1992 it went for $990,000.
The actress misplaced her different extravagant jewels “most likely to the IRS for again taxes”, in response to her grandson – however she managed to hold on to the Jarretière bracelet.
Highlights from the ‘Magnificent Jewels of Anne Eisenhower’ public sale shall be previewed on the Christie’s Los Angeles gallery in Beverly Hills on March 23, with extra showings to be held in Paris, Geneva and Hong Kong earlier than the June 7 public sale.
