Yesterday, French luxury house Van Cleef & Arpels opened their new exhibition in Singapore dedicated to the king of precious stones: the ruby. Held in collaboration with L’Ecole School of Jewelry Arts, the fiery stone takes pride of place in Les Jardins Secret, the maison’s “secret” gallery within the iconic Raffles Hotel Singapore.

Long prized in different cultures throughout history for their colour and rarity, the exhibition delves into its history and origins—starting with some exceptional ruby roughs sourced from various locations around the world, including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Greenland. It was fascinating, to say the least, to see how natural rubies formed on their mother rock, the various shapes that rubies could grow into naturally, and their range of natural colours.

To complement the natural rubies, Van Cleef & Arpels has drawn on their patrimonial collection to showcase the ingenious ways that they have used the ruby–in some exceptional high jewellery pieces, no less. Among the most stunning pieces on display are a transformable clip in spread in the shape of a fan from 1936, and an equally gorgeous necklace from 1937; and a personal highlight for me was seeing the majestic Cadeau Imperial high jewellery necklace, composed of lustrous pearls and featuring a central diamond framed by rubies set in the house’s signature Mystery Set.

Accompanying these marvellous pieces are photomicrographs by gemologist Billie Hughes, artistic, abstract close-ups of the precious stone, showing off its intense myriad colours, its natural rutile silk formations (naturally-occurring inclusions in the stone with often geometric shapes) and its beautiful facets that reveal themselves under the microscope.

What’s more: You can even channel your inner artist and try your hand at photomicrography on a synthetic ruby at a station within the exhibition. The souvenir you will get to keep? A personalised photomicrograph that you can bring home with you.

The exhibition is open to the public from 29 July at Les Jardins Secrets by Van Cleef & Arpels at Raffles Hotel. Reserve your slot in advance here.

This article was first seen on Grazia.Sg

For more on the latest in luxury jewellery reads, click here.