Fragiles, ephemeral, ornemental, precious, flowers are filled with wonder. Since the first observations of Greek philosophers, artists, scientists, explorers and collectors have examined, celebrated them and have been trying to unlock their mystery. What is their secret life? Objects of studies, flowers have aroused many questions since Antiquity on the origins of life and give evidence of our relationship to nature.

Meeting sciences and art history, this publication invites us into an exploration: from the pages of the oldest herbarium, to Middle-Age illuminations, and gardens of Chinese emperors to the ones of oriental sultans, from the whimsical floral clock imagined by Carl Linné to the famous vellum of the National Museum of History in Paris…

Richly illustrated with etchings, manuscripts, and old documents from worldwide institutions such as the National Library in France, the British Library and the Vatican library, this book, conceived in collaboration with the maison of high jewelry Van Cleef & Arpels, presents also a series of art works specially created for the publication by major contemporary artists such as Valérie Belin, Patrick Neu, and Rinko Kawauchi.