Snowflakes appear as a recurring geometric subject in the work of JAR, the Paris maison founded by Joel Arthur Rosenthal in 1977 at 7 Place Vendôme. JAR snowflake brooches, ear clips and pendant elements are typically rendered in white pavé diamond on a blackened mounting, sometimes with discreet accents in coloured stone, and they constitute one of the maison's most successful treatments of pure geometry.

The Subject

The snowflake combines six-fold radial symmetry with extreme delicacy of edge, two qualities that are difficult to render together in fine jewellery. JAR's snowflakes treat the subject as crystalline ornament rather than as a literal natural snow crystal, and they recur in many slightly different geometric variations.

Construction

JAR snowflakes are pavé constructions over a substrate of silver and gold, with the metal patinated black so that the diamond pavé reads as pure white light against an effectively invisible mounting. The structure of the snowflake is articulated by very fine outlines, often with negative spaces or pierced openings between the radial arms which are bordered by the smallest pavé stones the maison commands. The visual impression is one of a frozen filament of ice rather than a solid plaque of stones.

Tonal gradation, in the case of the snowflake pieces, is generally subtle, with the diamonds chosen across a tightly controlled range of clarity and a deliberately uniform colour. Some snowflake pieces incorporate small accents of coloured stone, often blue sapphire at the centre or at the points of the radial arms, to introduce a single chromatic note into an otherwise monochrome composition.

Examples and Reception

JAR snowflake brooches were included in the Metropolitan Museum's 2013 retrospective Jewels by JAR, where their treatment of pure geometry and their command of negative space drew particular critical attention. Snowflake pieces have appeared at Christie's and Sotheby's auction sales with strong results, and the form is sometimes considered emblematic of the maison's parallel command of botanical and geometric subjects.