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Diamond and plique a jour lily brooch, $65,000 U.S., Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co.

Chief gemologist Peter Schneirla discusses a magnificent lily

Of all the magnificent pieces in Tiffany & Co.’s latest Blue Book collection, the one that Peter Schneirla singles out for attention is an enamel lily brooch.

“You are always trying to do something with enamel that it doesn’t want to do,” Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemologist explained at a media event in New York to launch the 2009 Blue Book. The collection is a grouping of Tiffany’s most intricately-crafted pieces and rarest gems.

The one-of-a-kind lily brooch has lifelike gold stamens centred in diamond-dotted plique-a-jour petals. Plique-a-jour is a French term for enamel that has no backing. The gold and blush-coloured enamel lily is surrounded by a swirl of platinum and diamond tendrils. The style of the piece harks back to the Art Nouveau designs of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Part of the challenge of plique-a-jour is that, in essence, it has to be made twice, Schneirla explains. “All the polishing and spacing has to be exactly right before you do the enamel.”

In a technique used in the 15th century by Benvenuto Cellini and rediscovered in France in 1900, metal cells are filled with colored transparent enamel giving the effect of a stained glass window.

The challenges of enamel become even more difficult in a light hue, Schneirla emphasizes.

“When you have a light, transparent enamel, to achieve enough depth of colour and proper tone of colour is very, very difficult. You are working with molten glass which is extremely hard to control.”

In all, the Tiffany & Co. lily brooch has 30 separate pieces that were crafted and hand-assembled over a five-month period. The piece retails for $65,000 U.S. or $76,500 Cdn. But keep in mind, this is one bloom that will never die.