Bejewelled by Tiffany, 1837-1987, the most comprehensive exhibition of Tiffany jewellery ever mounted, will introduce viewers to the rich history of the jewellery of Tiffany & Co. The exhibition, presently at the Gilbert Collection, Somerset House, London WC1, will end on Sunday 26 November 2006.

Some 180 glittering pieces from the Tiffany Archive, together with a small selection of jewels loaned from private collections, chronicle Tiffany’s first 150 years at this exhibition. Many of these works have never before been on public display. So, if you happen to be in London and you love beautiful jewellery this is your chance to go and see an exceptional exhibition.

Now famous for its glamour, creative design and fine craftsmanship, Tiffany & Co. was founded in New York in 1837. Starting modestly as a ‘Fancy Goods’ store on Broadway, it quickly rose to international fame, its jewellery winning medals and stunning the world at the great international exhibitions of the 19th century. Success was born from a commitment to excellence in design, craftsmanship and the materials used and was rooted in the entrepreneurial genius of the company’s founder Charles Lewis Tiffany (1812-1902). Tiffany has always been a unique brand combining an appreciation of European fashions with an original and distinctively American aesthetic.

The exhibition follows a broad chronological framework within which the pieces are arranged thematically, highlighting particular designers, sources of inspiration or the materials favoured at different times during the 150 years covered.

The first section The Rise of an American Institution illustrates some of the qualities behind Tiffany’s early prominence and long-lasting success. Charles Louis Tiffany, whose cameo portrait (left) is on display, knew how to capture the popular imagination and appeal to the wealthy by offering exclusive items. His stock ranged from topical modestly priced souvenirs, such as a mounted section of steel cable commemorating the laying of the first transatlantic cable in 1858 to historic diamonds acquired at the 1887 sale of the French Crown Jewels and from other princely European collections. This led to Tiffany stocking such glamorous pieces as the emerald and diamond brooch adapted from a girdle once owned by Empress Eugénie.

Tiffany opened an office in Paris in 1850 and a shop in 1868.

The second section of the exhibition Temple of Fancy – as Tiffany was described by the New York Evening Express in 1875 – sets out to illustrate the wide range of jewellery available in the store to meet the needs of every occasion.

Notable in this section is a pearl necklace with matching brooch similar to one bought from Tiffany by president-elect Abraham Lincoln in 1861 for his wife to wear at the Inaugural Ball. In the 1890s René Lalique, now best known for his exquisite glass, designed jewellery for Tiffany in Paris and a diamond spray brooch by him is included in the exhibition (top left).

The third section Such stuff as dreams are made on … covers the period from the 1870s to the start of the First World War and explores Tiffany’s evolution into jewellers of true originality with a distinctive American flavour.

It illustrates both the fresh and creative approach to the use of stones, particularly the taste for gems of unusual colours, and a deliberate bias towards stones of American origin. With growing American wealth, spectacular diamond jewellery became commonplace. Diamonds became and have remained at the heart of Tiffany & Co.’s business.

At that time, pearls equalled diamonds in prestige and value. Tiffany designers used pearls from all sources, especially the tinted and irregular fresh-water pearls found in American rivers and the soft pink pearls from conch shells.

The appointment of George Frederick Kunz as a young man to the staff of Tiffany was a masterstroke. Tiffany’s familiarity with unusual coloured stones may be seen in the sales catalogue for 1893 which listed 47 different stones for setting in rings. Among the pieces to be shown is a brooch set with diamonds and a large pink kunzite, the stone named in honour of Kunz in 1902. An opulent Art Nouveau-style bracelet designed around 1900 set with a combination of amethysts, sinhalites, garnets, aquamarines and tourmalines is a splendid example of an original combination of stones.

The Opulent accessories section brings together such items as canes, parasols, purses, scent bottles, smoking kit, watches and the like, that were a must for the well-dressed man or woman around 1900. Tiffany designers and craftsmen transformed these functional objects into tiny works of art of the greatest beauty.

Tiffany also sought inspiration from the natural world. The section Nature gathers together some of the finest jewellery created by Tiffany, works that certainly count amongst the masterpieces of American decorative arts. Nature was also the inspiration for an intricately enamelled gold brooch in the form of a spray of mignonette and a dazzling dragonfly brooch where the diamonds and sapphires evoke the evanescence of the insect.

International exhibitions were occasions for national rivalry and for firms to show off their skills and make sales. The next section Paulding Farnham and the Paris Exposition of 1900 reunites eight virtuoso jewelled and enamelled pieces illustrating the genius of this designer. Outstanding are a collar of fire opals and tourmalines set in gold, reported at the time to be the finest collection of Mexican opals in the world, and a brooch of diamonds, Montana sapphires and fresh-water pearls from Wisconsin and Tennessee.

The section Louis Comfort Tiffany devoted to the son of the founder Charles Lewis Tiffany is, as might be expected, one of the largest in the exhibition bringing together over 20 pieces of his jewellery. Already well known for his brilliantly innovative glass and interior design, when he became closely involved in the company on the death of his father he introduced a more lyrical aesthetic, notable for its original colour combinations. Outstanding examples are a dragonfly with opal and demantoid garnet back and platinum lattice wings and a ‘grapevine’ fringe necklace of amethysts and jade set in gold, exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1906.

The Art Deco section shows how Tiffany, ever at the forefront of design, moved confidently into the new geometric style. This section features typical and stylish pieces including a platinum and diamond ‘skyscraper’ necklace.

New York World’s Fair and the 1940s, a brief but intense period, saw exuberant Retro Style jewels with brightly polished gold. Examples include a 1940s suite of gold jewellery set with large citrines and clusters of rubies, a gold charm bracelet with patriotic and victory symbols, and gold earrings in the form of aeroplanes, specifically American B-25 bombers.

The final section in the exhibition The Return to the Designer covers the post-war years when Tiffany boldly backed new designers. The elegant and witty genius of French designer Jean Schlumberger, hired in 1956, brought a universally acclaimed originality. In the 1960s the American designer Donald Claflin created humorous, figurative pieces such as the ‘Dragon’ brooch (above). Tiffany turned to designers Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso in the 1970s whose work captured the stylish informality that patrons now looked for in their jewellery.

Bejewelled by Tiffany, 1837-1987 celebrates Tiffany’s sustained pursuit of superb design and outstanding craftsmanship. Through the display of glittering jewels and luxurious objects, it evokes the glamour that has beguiled Tiffany’s clients for 150 years.