The camellia is among the recurring flower studies in the work of JAR, the Paris house of Joel Arthur Rosenthal at 7 Place Vendôme. Camellias appear across the maison's production from the 1980s onward as brooches, earrings and ear clips, in pavé of pink and red sapphires, rubies and diamonds, mounted in the blackened silver and gold construction that has become the JAR signature.

The Subject

The camellia is one of the established flowers of European haute joaillerie, made famous in the twentieth century by Coco Chanel's preference for the white camellia as a personal motif and consequently used at length by the house of Chanel itself. Within JAR's body of work the camellia is treated as a botanical subject in the spirit of the maison's other flower studies rather than as a logo motif, and it is rendered in a wide variety of colour tonalities including pure white pavé diamond, blush-pink, full crimson red and variegated combinations.

Construction

JAR camellias are typically built up around a carved three-dimensional metal substrate that supports a multi-layered arrangement of overlapping petals. Each petal is pavé-set with calibrated stones graded across several tonalities to suggest the natural depth of colour from the centre of the flower outward. The stamens at the centre are often executed in yellow diamond or yellow sapphire pavé with brown or champagne diamond accents, and the visible mounting metal is patinated to a near-black so that the stones alone register optically.

The blossoms are most often presented as if open to full bloom, sometimes with a small bud or unopened blossom alongside, and sometimes paired with leaves in green tsavorite or green sapphire pavé. Earring versions are usually mounted as ear clips with butterfly clutch, a stylistic preference of the maison, and brooches use double-pin closures for security.

Notable Examples

Several JAR camellia pieces have appeared at auction with particularly strong results, including a pair of pink sapphire and diamond camellia ear clips offered at Christie's, and a red and pink camellia brooch in ruby and pink sapphire pavé that featured prominently in the 2013 Metropolitan Museum retrospective Jewels by JAR. A version executed in deep red garnet and ruby pavé has also been documented in Sotheby's catalogues.

Position within JAR's Output

Within the maison's flower studies, the camellia sits alongside the pansy, the rose petal, the tulip, the lilac and the sweet pea as a subject treated repeatedly across decades. Each iteration is unique in stone selection and tonal gradation, although the underlying construction follows the consistent JAR method. In auction provenance and exhibition history the camellias rank among the most internationally recognised JAR pieces.