Garden of Green

June 10, 2023 — March 17, 2024

Now Open

Included with any admission.
Floor 1, Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals, Meister Gallery

Choker-style necklace comprised of emeralds and diamonds.
Van Cleef & Arpels
Now on view: A new exhibition of jewelry featuring green gemstones, from the collections of renowned French high jewelry maison Van Cleef & Arpels.
Interior view of Garden of Green special exhibition room, with wall text reading "Variations of Green" and "Peridot" over displays of jewelry.
Garden of Green: Exquisite Jewelry from the Collection of Van Cleef & Arpels is on view in the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery.
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH

Garden of Green: Exquisite Jewelry from the Collection of Van Cleef & Arpels is a dazzling celebration of green gemstones as featured in jewelry over the past 100 years, from the apple-green of peridot to the dark, deep green of malachite.

The exhibition includes 44 pieces, 32 of which are on view in the U.S. for the first time, from the collections of renowned French high jewelry maison Van Cleef & Arpels, which since its founding in 1906 has designed jewelry and watches inspired by nature’s lightness, proportions, creatures, and colors.

The exhibition is on view in the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, within the Museum’s new Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals, and is included with all admission.

Emerald and diamond necklace with curved, branchlike cord design and a cascade of diamonds and small diamond butterflies at the neckline.
From the Les Jardins Collection, the green curves of the Cydonia set (2009) evoke the branches of the quince tree, Cydonia oblonga. Accented by a string of floating butterflies set with rare pink diamonds, the necklace and earrings cascade with diamonds and together boast a total of 951 emeralds.
Van Cleef & Arpels
Diamond and emerald earrings with three curved strains of diamonds emerging from branchlike design and two, small diamond butterflies on each earring.
From the Les Jardins Collection, the green curves of the Cydonia set (2009) evoke the branches of the quince tree, Cydonia oblonga. Accented by a string of floating butterflies set with rare pink diamonds, the necklace and earrings cascade with diamonds and together boast a total of 951 emeralds.
Van Cleef & Arpels
Elaborate necklace made up of emeralds and diamonds.
The emerald and diamond necklace and bracelet set—commissioned by Prince Karim Aga Khan IV for his wife in 1971—boasts yellow gold, diamonds, and 477.58 carats of stunning Colombian emeralds. This intricate set can be transformed from a luxurious tiered necklace into a pair of matching bracelets and a stylish pendant-clip.
Van Cleef & Arpels

Garden of Green showcases glamorous green jewels, across seven categories, including emerald, jadeite jade, peridot, malachite chrysoprase, and green chalcedony.