Year of the Dog: jewellery boasting the image of our four-legged friend

The Chinese or Eastern calendar is considered one of the most ancient in the world. According to legend, the rat, bull, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig were first to go to Buddha to celebrate the New Year. In honour of each of the animals, Buddha then named the years into a 12-year cycle. Since then, these animals return to us in turn.

According to beliefs, for the year to be lucky and successful, you must cajole the animal-symbol of the corresponding year. This can be done, for example, by correctly selecting clothes and accessories. The main colours of 2018 – the Yellow Earth Dog – will be yellow, black, gold and orange, so any jewellery made from gold is relevant. But if you want to find jewellery with the image of our four-legged friend, then it won’t be so easy – the active and inquisitive animal is rarely associated with luxury and glamour in the eyes of jewellers. But, fortunately, there are some surprising exceptions and five of my favourite are listed below.

Boucheron

In 2016, the jewellery house Boucheron presented a new collection of high jewellery art, L’Hiver Impérial, inspired by the snowy expanses of Russia. Working on this extensive collection, Boucheron designers tried to capture not only the beauty of nature, buildings and people, but also that of the animal world. So the northern Husky driving dog was moved from the snowy expanses to the world of jewellery. In this collection, the Laika le Husky ring and watch are dedicated to her in the same design. They are made in 18K white gold, diamonds, sapphires, spinels, rock crystal and jade to recreate the dog’s canine muzzle and transparent floes of ice.

href=”http://www.vancleefarpels.com/ww/en/collections/high-jewelry/arche-de-noe-racontee-par-van-cleef—arpels.html” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Van Cleef&Arpels

The “La Boutique” collection of miniature brooches by Van Cleef & Arpels was first presented in the distant year of 1954. The main characteristics of its design features were such mischievous amusing animals that even Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy Onassis could not deny themselves the pleasure of collecting them. Continuing with this tradition, in 2016 the house presented the high jewellery art collection L’Arche de Noé – another reference to the theme of the animal world in paired brooches, among which you might chance upon delightful dachshunds of black onyx and snow-white diamonds. A new Dog brooch was launched in 2017 as a part of the Lucky Animals™ collection, in yellow gold with mother-of-pearl and onyx.

href=”http://www.tiffany.com/jewelry/tiffany-charms#” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Tiffany&Co

One of the most popular pieces by this American brand is their charms. At Tiffany&Co, charms are presented in a great variety of designs. Of course, in this collection there was a place for the four-legged creature who is man’s best friend. The Tsavorite Dog Charm is made from white gold with diamonds and tsavorites, and in its outlines you can unmistakably make out the Schnauzer. And the voluminous charm in the form of a playful dog in yellow gold with diamond eyes was created specifically as one of the 12 symbols in the Chinese character by the designer Paloma Picasso. 

href=”https://qeelin.com/en/jewellery/collections/wang-wang/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Qeelin 

The creative director of Queeling, Dennis Chan, is a passionate admirer both of dogs and diamonds. He combined them to create the “Wang Wang” collection, which translates from Mandarin as “Woof Woof”. Earrings, rings, necklaces and pendants with images of various breeds of dog are made in white and pink gold, covered with scarlet rubies, as well as black and colourless diamonds, and blue and pink sapphires. The result is jewellery that is touching and comical, and the choice on offer is limitless: the chihuahua, French bulldog, golden retriever, corgi rumbo, poodle, schnauzer, morgan and labrador.

href=”http://www.suzannesyz.ch/” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Suzanne Syz 

Suzanne Syz is also madly in love with dogs, and her jewellery is perhaps the most personal. Back in 2011 she created a bracelet on which she captured all her pets. 8 lovely muzzles engraved on rock crystal, and then painted by hand and place on mother-of-pearl. The portraits are framed with colourless and cognac diamonds, and are connected by elements of pink gold. To immortalise the name of each pet, the designer put their names on the back of the bracelet.

Despite the fact that in the world of jewellery art there were no special collections for the Year of the Dog, several leading watch brands gave special attention to the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac and created unique collection models featuring dogs. You can read more about them in a separate article.