A 2,000-year-old gold necklace is remade by hand in a free d3 show
L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts opens Recreating Gesture in Dubai Design District today, showing how a goldsmith rebuilt an Iron Age gold torque. Entry is free until 24 April 2027.
A gold neck ring found in a field in southern France almost two centuries ago is the subject of a new exhibition in Dubai Design District. Recreating Gesture: Crafting a Gold Necklace from the Iron Age opens today, 5 November, at L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, and runs until 24 April 2027. Entry is free.
The piece at the centre of the show is the Montans torque, a Celtic neck collar discovered in Montans, France, in 1843. It dates from the Second Iron Age, somewhere between 450 and 25 BC, which makes it roughly 2,000 years old. Its fine twisted wire and the decorated knot at its front are what drew the school's researchers to it: nobody had written down how such a piece was made.
So they tried to make it again. The exhibition follows an experimental archaeology project in which goldsmith Antoine Legouy, a master chaser, worked with archaeologists and with Van Cleef & Arpels' director of high jewellery crafts to rebuild the torque by hand, testing which gestures and tools could produce those shapes. The result is two replicas in 24 karat gold, one of which is on display, together with the steps that led to it.
The show has already been seen in Paris, Lyon, Seoul and Shanghai before reaching Dubai. L'ÉCOLE, which is supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, has its Middle East home in Building 10 at Dubai Design District, where it runs jewellery courses, talks and free exhibitions through the year. Its last large show there, on 3,000 years of Chinese gold ornaments, ran from April to August 2024.
There is an early chance to see it with a guide. On Saturday 7 November the school holds an Open Day with guided tours of the exhibition, demonstrations from its courses and workshops for children.
The exhibition is free, but the school asks visitors to register in advance on its website, so book a time before you go. It is at L'ÉCOLE, Building 10, Dubai Design District, and it stays open until 24 April 2027, so there is no rush outside the Open Day. Opening hours are on the school's booking page. If you are in d3 for Dubai Design Week events this month, it is a short walk from the main buildings.