Which French luxury jewellery house is famous for its Alhambra four-leaf clover motif?

Van Cleef & Arpels is the French luxury jewellery house famous for its Alhambra four-leaf clover motif. The design has become the maison’s most recognizable signature.

Van Cleef & Arpels created the first Alhambra long necklace in 1968. It featured 20 clover-shaped motifs in textured yellow gold, each edged with small gold beads. The motif expressed the maison’s long association with luck and good fortune.

The four-leaf clover connection predates the Alhambra collection itself. Four-leaf clovers appeared in Van Cleef & Arpels’ archives as early as 1906, while Jacques Arpels—nephew of co-founder Charles Arpels—was known for picking clovers and giving them to employees as lucky charms.

The Alhambra motif is often confused with a generic quatrefoil, a four-lobed shape found in architecture and decorative arts. Van Cleef & Arpels’ version is distinguished by its beaded border and broad use of materials such as mother-of-pearl, onyx, carnelian, malachite, and diamonds. The collection has been repeatedly reinterpreted since 1968.