Christie’s offers a dive into the creative legacy of Jean Dinh Van, a figure who redefined the codes of modern jewelry.
The salons of Christie’s Paris regularly become the scene of dialogues between history and contemporary creation. After Elie Top, Jean Dinh Van, who celebrated the decade of his maison there last January, is now in turn being honored there. From September 3 to 13, the auction house is dedicating a retrospective to one of the most unique jewelers of the 20th century, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the brand bearing his name.
The exhibition brings together patrimonial pieces, emblematic models, and archival documents, offering a journey through the universe of this creator who passed away in 2022. Both craftsman and sculptor, Dinh Van established himself at the end of the 1960s as a pioneering figure, offering jewelry with simple lines and a formal vocabulary resolutely modern. His creations, accessible and worn in everyday life, are part of an era marked by female emancipation and social upheavals.
In 1967, inspired by Pierre Cardin’s audacity, he conceived the «Deux Perles» ring, which became a milestone in the history of jewelry design. That same year, his work caught the attention of Cartier during the Montreal World’s Fair. The collaboration that ensued led him to oversee the maison’s jewelry production from New York for a decade. His pieces, co-designed by Cartier and Ding Van, are widely distributed in North America, imposing a new vision of jewelry that is both functional and elegant.
In 1977, thanks to this recognition, Jean Dinh Van opened his own boutique on Madison Avenue. His creations soon found their way into museum collections, marking a journey that successfully combined artistic excellence with an understanding of the expectations of a generation.
Christie’s is accompanying this retrospective with the publication of a work by Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter (Éditions Flammarion), a film tracing the creative journey of the jeweler and the reissue of two iconic models. A collection conceived as a tribute to the free spirit and innovative vision of a creator whose legacy continues to inspire.
