Last night saw the launch of London’s Masterpiece 2012 – a fabulous fair devoted to art and antiquities across the ages and of the very highest order.
From gilded mirrors and oriental textiles to Baroque furniture and mid century homewares everything the dedicated aesthete could wish for is available to buy along Masterpiece’s plush aisles.
Naturally, it was the jewellery that lured Adorn London in. As well as the pick of the vintage dealers whose displays groaned under the weight of bibelots from the likes of Cartier, Van Cleef and Boucheron, contemporary works such as Theo Fennell’s Castle Ring – complete with fully functioning drawbridge – and Hemmerle’s colour-rich collection had us dreaming of the day we win the lottery.
This year also sees the Masterpiece debut of Brilliant – an exhibition of diamonds celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee curated by Carol Woolton, jewellery editor of Vogue UK. Brilliant’s raison d’etre is to showcase one of a kind fine jewellery pieces such as a £29,000 black diamond and emerald collar by Karl Lagerfeld (below right), a pair of shoes adorned with diamonds and feathers by Bruno Frisoni for Roger Vivier, and pieces by Wendy Yue and Bochic whose work Woolton came across a when the jewellers were guest designers at Annoushka.
Both the exquisite Fantasie Mosaic Village Diamond bangle by Wendy Yue and the Caged Beauty earrings by Bochic (below left) were commissioned by Woolton specifically for the exhibition and – if appreciative gasps were anything to go by – were a big hit with all concerned.
Masterpiece London 2012 runs until 4th July at the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Words: Maia Adams
