Lavender in Motion

Since its founding in 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels has built its legacy in creating objects of rare beauty, from intricate timepieces to luminous jewels. Its latest addition to the Extraordinary Objects collection, the Brassée de Lavande automaton, epitomizes this heritage. A lyrical tribute to the ephemeral beauty of lavender in bloom, the piece showcases the Maison’s masterful enameling, haute joaillerie techniques, and mechanical virtuosity, creating a work that is both refined and profoundly poetic.

Realized through a years-long collaboration between Van Cleef & Arpels’ Art Mechanics workshop in Sainte-Croix and the Maison’s ateliers in Geneva and Paris, the Brassée de Lavande is the result of meticulous research and shared artistic vision. Standing approximately 12 inches tall, the automaton evokes a poetic bouquet of 36 lavender stems, each one cast in rose gold and finished with layers of lustrous lacquer. Every sprig is shaped entirely by hand, then transformed through a multistep process involving pigment mixing, airbrushed layers, sanding, polishing, and glazing to finally create a surface of extraordinary depth and luminosity. The stems are adorned with tender green leaves and soft blue blossoms. Together, they evoke not just a flower, but the sensation of summer held still: ephemeral, fragrant, and eternal.

When activated, the lavender corolla slowly unfurls, as if stirred by an invisible breeze, revealing a butterfly poised in mid-flight. Carved from tiger’s eye and crowned with an amethyst cabochon, the butterfly’s wings are a triumph of plique-à-jour enamel, a demanding technique in which translucent enamel is fired within an openwork gold framework, allowing light to pass through like stained glass. It hovers above a cluster of golden beads, each set with amethysts, before gently retreating into the bouquet, which folds closed once more in a choreographed finale.

The automaton rests on a base of green verdite and white limestone, its natural textures eloquently grounding the piece. A gold and diamond ring displays the hours, while two white gold snails settle softly on a sprig of lavender nearby.  

Two independent mechanisms power the piece: one animates the unfolding bouquet and butterfly, the other rotates the time display. As the scene comes to life, a delicate melody underscores the movement, adding an auditory dimension to the visual spectacle.

With a tender homage to nature’s wonders, this latest creation from Van Cleef & Arpels unfolds as a graceful ode to the brand’s timeless artistry and its reverence for the delicate interplay of flora and fauna.