Alhambra, After 58 Years, Takes a Blush

There is a sun-drenched romance to the iconic Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra. Born in 1968, the shamrock-inspired silhouette has always possessed the breezy charm of a summer afternoon along the Riviera, a playful yet sophisticated talisman of good luck.

Over the decades, the house has rendered the beloved clover in a kaleidoscope of precious materials, from celestial lapis lazuli and rich onyx to iridescent mother-of-pearl. Now, more than fifty years after its debut, the motif steps into the light with a joyful, translucent blush of fine pink enamel.

Enameling carries a storied legacy of prestige. In the 17th century, illustrious European rulers ordered enameled jewels in their likeness as diplomatic currency and intimate tokens of affection. One such piece—a portrait box crafted around 1680 by the master painter Jean Petitot and the goldsmith Le Tessier de Montarsy—framed a delicate oval miniature of Louis XIV in diamonds, its reverse enameled with the intertwining double-L of the royal cipher. 

A century later, aristocrats navigating the Grand Tour returned with enameled medallions depicting sweeping landscapes, souvenirs that captured play of light and shade with the precision of an oil painting shrunk to the size of a coin.

Van Cleef & Arpels safeguards these historically complex techniques within specialized Parisian ateliers skilled in old crafts like plique-à-jour and grisaille. For this latest expansion, artisans turned to a 17th-century process known as “gold-ruby” enameling. Instead of ordinary pigments, micro-particles of pure gold are suspended within the vitreous paste to produce a deep, radiant pink of exceptional translucency.

Refining the precise size, shape, and distribution of these metallic particles required years of research, but the result is pure magic: microscopic bubbles remain trapped beneath the surface, giving each piece a soft, gem-like shimmer.

The new pink enamel arrives in five additions across Vintage Alhambra and Magic Alhambra: pendants, earrings, bracelets, and long multi-motif necklaces, all framed in the Maison’s signature 18-karat yellow-gold beading. For collectors, it is a new way into a silhouette they already know by heart.

“Thanks to our workshops’ expertise and capacity for innovation, enamel brings an original aesthetic and shade to the Alhambra universe,” says Catherine Renier, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels.

By pairing centuries-old craft with one of the most recognizable silhouettes in jewelry history, Van Cleef proves that even the most celebrated designs can be reimagined in a new color. And luck, in other words, looks a little rosier this season.