Cult-favorite jeweler JAR, aka Joel Arthur Rosenthal, set a new standard for pavé work with this circa 2003 floral brooch. Marrying various sizes, hues, and cuts of rubies, he set out to mimic the slight tone variations of real-life camellia petals—to spectacular effect. The scarlet stunner—which sold for $4.3 million (well above its $1.5 million high estimate) at Christie’s Jewels for Hope: The Collection of Mrs. Lily Safra sale in Geneva on May 14—was offered as part of the largest single-owner collection of JAR pieces ever auctioned. (The 18 pieces earned $11.5 million for charity.) But this brooch “really is JAR at another level,” says Rahul Kadakia, head of jewelry at Christie’s. “JAR collected the rubies one by one over the course of I don’t know how many years. It’s a truly monumental creation, and it made a monumental price.”
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