Van Cleef & Arpels Beyond Jewellery: A Dialogue with the MAK Collection

GLANZSTÜCKE: Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry × Masterpieces from the MAK Collection brings together two collections with very different histories, the patrimonial collection of a Parisian jewellery Maison and that of Vienna's Museum of Applied Arts. Curated around themes such as travel, transformation and the natural world, the exhibition expands the context in which high jewellery can be viewed, not only as adornment, but as part of the longer history of decorative art.

Founded in 1863, the MAK is one of the world's oldest museums dedicated to the applied arts. Its collection ranges from Renaissance objects and historic textiles to furniture. That breadth allows the curators to draw attention to shared ideas of construction, ornament and technical invention.

Some of the most persuasive comparisons are built around function. The Minaudière, patented by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933, transformed the vanity case into a compact object with hidden compartments. Set beside an eighteenth-century card table by David Roentgen, whose elaborate marquetry conceals its own mechanical fittings, the two objects demonstrate how engineering can be absorbed into decorative form. The same principle appears in Van Cleef’s celebrated Zip necklace, which converts from necklace to bracelet using a mechanism inspired by the zipper of an aviator's jacket. It is shown alongside a folding screen by Koloman Moser, where movement and transformation are equally fundamental to the object rather than secondary to its decoration.

Elsewhere, the exhibition broadens the conversation through visual correspondences. A miniature sailing yacht in gold, silver and jasper is matched with a seventeenth-century Portuguese Carpet; a Viennese ball gown is placed near Van Cleef & Arpels' dancer and fairy clips, while a Chrysanthemum clip using the Mystery Set technique, is shown with a sixteenth-century armillary sphere. Rather than arguing for direct influence, these pairings reveal recurring approaches to rhythm, movement, and craftsmanship across different disciplines.

Designed by Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects, the scenography takes the form of a maze, reinforcing an exhibition organised through encounters rather than chronology.

GLANZSTÜCKE: Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry × Masterpieces from the MAK Collection is on view at the MAK in Vienna until September 27, 2026.