In 2017, Van Cleef & Arpels unveiled this piece in their high jewelry collection “Le Secret”, drawing inspiration from Pushkin’s fairy tale poem “The Tale of
Tsar Saltan”. Based on the brand’s iconic “Ballerina” brooch, the design incorporates a clever hidden mechanism to recreate the fairy-tale scene where the enchanted swan transforms into a princess. The name “Métamorphose du Cygne” literally means “Metamorphosis of the Swan.”
The brooch features a rotatable double-layer structure: the upper layer forms the princess’s flared skirt in a fan shape, while the lower disc combines the figures of the princess and the swan. By rotating the upper half of the ballerina clockwise, the swan on the other side is revealed, perfectly reflecting the piece’s theme.
The princess’s skirt is made of slender pleated strips, each adorned with gradually sized round gemstones, transitioning from colorless diamonds to light blue, purple, and deep blue sapphires.
The elegant figure retains the signature posture of the “Ballerina” brooch: the body is crafted in platinum, the face features an inverted pear-shaped diamond, and the crown atop her head is set with step-cut and round diamonds, mimicking the pointed Russian Kokoshnik headdress, reflecting Pushkin’s Russian heritage.
The swan is depicted with a brighter palette of gemstones. Its feathers are paved with colorless diamonds, the raised forehead set with a cabochon chalcedony, the beak crafted in gold, and the eye a round black spinel. The swan’s body is further embellished with diamonds and sapphires in orange, yellow, blue, pink, and purple hues, creating a whimsical, fairy-tale atmosphere.
