Symphony of Jewels - Opus 1 (Relié)

Inspired by Chinese art and lore, Western art and music, and the natural world, Anna Hu's imaginative, exquisitely designed and executed one-of-a-kind pieces have catapulted her to the top of the jewelry firmament in a few short years. Her firm, Anna I lu Haute Joaillerie, has boutiques in New York and Shanghai, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris has honored her with an exhibition of her work.
This luxurious volume celebrates the completion of Anna Hu's first 100 works, or "Opus 1," as she calls the collection. Her ambitious goal is to produce an opus every five years until she has completed ten, for a total of 999 pieces, and no one who has seen her jewelry has any doubt that she will fulfill her dream. The introduction by jewelry historian Janet Zapata and essays by Carol Woolton, jewelry editor of British Vogue, and David Warren, director of jewelry at Christie's, address various aspects of Anna Hu's work, including the relationship between her jewelry and fashion, the impact that her passionate study of the cello has had on her jewelry design, and the remarkable gemstones that inspired her to make some of her most virtuosic pieces.
But the pièce de résistance of the book are the pieces themselves, many of them exquisitely photographed by master jewelry photographer David Behl. Some are as intricate as Chinese embroidery, others are as ethereal and delicate as butterflies, and still others are jeweled reinterpretations of timeless works of music and art, from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Puccini's Turandot to Monet's Water Lilies and Van Gogh's Irises.
In all, a Symphony of jewels.