Tusk, tusk, and other jewels at Asian Art in London

Asian Art in London will feature more than 60 specialist dealers and auction houses from November 3-12. Among the treasures on display will be a 19th-century gold and enamelled gem-set pen from Jaipur, exhibited by Indian and Islamic dealer Simon Ray. It has diamonds set in relief as individual leaves around bright red flowers. Mr Ray will also bring a playful pair of 19th-century bangles from Benares, north India, with elephant-head clasps whose trunks intertwine (above). At Yewn, the Chinese fine jewellery specialist, a star exhibit will be a lattice jadeite ring with a sparkling diamond lizard.

Kissing cousins

Boghossian will exhibit at the Fine Art Asia fair for a fifth year from October 2-5 at Hong Kong’s Convention and Exhibition Centre. The jeweller will use the fair as a showcase for its overlaid “kissing diamond” technique, with which the house creates the illusion that two different stones are organically joined. Highlights include an 18-carat white-gold ring with a cushion-shaped purplish-pink diamond which kisses a five-carat pear-shaped diamond on a bed of small brilliant stones (above). Another is a rose-gold ring which marries a fancy intense pink diamond with a white diamond.

I wandered lonely

Family-owned jeweller Amrapali launched a new collection, “When Time Stood Still”, at July’s Delhi Couture Show in collaboration with Indian fashion designer Anamika Khanna. The collection is made up of about 35 emerald pieces with a floral and botanical theme, inspired by the final verse of Wordsworth’s “The Solitary Reaper”. Each stone is hand-carved in Jaipur and paired with white diamonds. On a necklace and pair of earrings, more than 30 emerald leaves were carved from polished stones using a technique known in India since the Mughal period, then put in a Kundan setting, where gold foil is placed between the gem and the mount.

Suite life

Joining its roster in Milan, London and Bali, Bulgari is opening two new riverside hotels in mainland China in late 2017 or 2018. At Suhe Creek, a metropolitan complex near Shanghai’s Suzhou river, 120 rooms and suites will occupy a dozen upper floors of a 40-storey Foster+Partners building. Its largest suite will be 400 sq m, one of the most spacious in the city. Bulgari has also restored the former Chinese Chamber of Commerce as a restaurant. In Beijing, another 120 rooms will face the Liangma river.

Blue with envy

A unique platinum ring set with a 25.35-carat Burmese sapphire was launched by Louis Vuitton this year as part of its high jewellery collection. The Royal Blue sapphire is showcased in a traditional solitaire design, but is also flanked by a line of white round diamonds on the ring’s edge; these are a nod to Gaston-Louis Vuitton’s signature and have been one of the jeweller’s best-loved motifs since the 1920s. The past five years have featured a marked increase in prices of sapphires at auction: Kashmiri examples broke records on multiple occasions last year. In May 2015, Christie’s sold a 35.09-carat ring for $7,357,999, an auction record for a Kashmir sapphire; in December 2015, Sotheby’s achieved the price-per-carat record for a sugarloaf cabochon, at $197,990 per carat.

Let’s go fly a kite

British jeweller Stephen Webster has collaborated with diamond specialist Hearts On Fire for his latest collection, “White Kites”. Inspired by the bird of prey, its 34 designs include collars, cocktail rings, bangles (above) and ear cuffs all set with white diamonds. Hearts On Fire was founded in 1996 in America and was bought by Chow Tai Fook, which has 2,400 retail stores in China, the region and the US, in 2014. In the past 18 months Hearts On Fire has opened 150 of its own points of sale in China; Asia-Pacific accounts for a quarter of the brand’s retail locations, says the company.