Fantastic beasts: the eternal allure of animal jewellery

Animal stories have provided a rare point of delight in the news cycles this year. We have been comforted at home by family corgis, cats and Labradors, but it has been wild animals that have truly captivated as they have taken over more typically human territories. Venetians found shoals of silvery fish chasing through canals, kangaroos bounced into abandoned shopping malls in Australia and one brave lobster even made it up the driveway of Kim Kardashian West’s Calabasas home. 

Kardashian West hasn’t divulged whether the crustacean that scuttled to her house was her spirit animal, but a growing number of Hollywood personalities have found their animal totems via the US jewel brand Star Animal Sundays. Describing itself as a “modern-day expression of style and spirituality that exists at the crossroads of symbolism, nature and wellness”, the brand draws on cultures that have animals at their centre – from ancient Egyptians to native Americans to the Celts – to help clients find their “spirit creatures”. The animals are engraved on recycled gold and ethically sourced diamond rings and pendants, with three coloured gemstones to represent the animal’s traits.

Figurative animal shapes have long been a mainstay of the jeweller’s art. But the current landscape has unleashed a new menagerie of talismans with which to decorate – or arm – our bodies. Jeweller Shaun Leane well understands the desire to wear “protection”. In recent months, during which he has been hand-feeding a vixen and her cubs in his north London garden, he has taken to wearing a seal ring of his own design, engraved with an eagle and the words “Vita Nova” (New Life). Leane was attracted to the ring’s “Victorian feel of sentimentality about rebirth and life”, and it has inspired a new collection, Signum, a series of engraved pieces launching in spring 2021, featuring animals associated with the designer’s Celtic origins. He drew on the custom, originating in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, for decorating one’s cloak fastener with a symbolic beast. Leane’s hare represents balance, the bull strength and, appropriately, his friendly fox opportunity and wisdom.

Most cultures draw on the symbolism of the animal kingdom for luck or protection. The scarab may be a dung beetle but it has the longest pedigree of any amulet in the world, so popular a symbol of renewal and rebirth that it’s been used as a bodyguard for more than 4,000 years. Jewelled mascots made from all manner of animal body parts – wishbones, horns, teeth and claws – have also passed down through the centuries. But murmurations, flight and feathers are central to Boucheron’s new high-jewellery collection Contemplation. “We worked with diamonds and half-millimetre-thin mother-of-pearl engraved with feather lashes,” says creative director Claire Choisne of the Caresse de Plume brooch, “to make it realistic, soft and light.”

In art and literature, a beastly form can’t disguise a noble soul, and creatures have often been used to present us with a moral lesson. Similarly, no creature is too deadly or ugly to escape the jeweller’s oeuvre; witness Bibi van der Velden’s slugs and golden-scaled alligators with tsavorite eyes. Likewise the snake, whose ability to renew itself by shedding its skin has made it a symbol of longevity for centuries. The Victorians took advantage of the snake’s serpentine form to twist around a wrist or finger. But it was Bulgari that gave the serpent sex appeal when it introduced the seductive Serpenti design in the 1940s to symbolise the circle of life and eternity.

A jewelled animal can express character in a unique form of personal branding. The Cartier panther – one of the most iconic animal designs of the 20th century – was adopted in the 1930s as an expression of the independent-minded woman. The motif has since materialised in designs to suit every mood and season, from stylised barely there black onyx-spotted jewels to its most recent incarnation as a tropical-bright Panther timepiece in the new [Sur]Naturel collection. 

The lion fulfilled a similar function for Gabrielle Chanel, a Leo, who surrounded herself with sulptures of lions in wood, silver and bronze. The animal has also been a recurring figure in the house’s jewellery collections, including the Sous Le Signe Du Lion collection, which has a diamond-studded, 18ct yellow-gold lion brooch and a fierce white-gold and diamond ring.

Just as we identify with specific creatures, certain animals have become synonymous with brand values. Historically, Van Cleef & Arpels has eschewed the dangerous and poisonous to focus on more joyful characteristics; in the house’s L’Arche de Noé high-jewellery collection, a tribute to Noah’s Ark, animals troop in two by two.

“Choosing an animal jewel that matches you is about more than aesthetics; it becomes about what the animal represents,” agrees Boucheron’s Choisne. “Our deer gives a quiet and peaceful energy, but the hedgehog is spiky and dynamic. They aren’t just jewels; they are friends and protectors, they become part of your identity.” 

This year, Choisne has spent more time contemplating what makes jewellery precious. “It’s about roots and true feelings,” she says of the animal jewel and its continued popularity. “It’s always nice to present a big diamond to the team, but when I show new animal designs everyone becomes emotional.”