Anna Hu Sets Global Auction Records for Highest Price Paid for a Contemporary Jewelry Artist and for a Burmese Sapphire

GENEVA, Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- An Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie brooch broke two world auction records at today's Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva. First, the world auction sales record for a contemporary jewelry artist, as previously held by JAR. Second, the highest auction price per carat for a Burmese sapphire at US$ 78,400. The final Realized Price for Anna Hu's Cote d'Azur brooch, as published by Christie's, was CHF 4,197,000 (EUR 3,410,361 / US$ 4,568,163).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131112/NY16065 )

The one of a kind Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie Cote d'Azur brooch is centered upon a cushion-shaped Burmese sapphire, weighing 58.29 carats, set within a pave-set diamond floral branch decorated with moonstones, colored sapphires, tsavorites, tourmalines, spinel, colored diamonds, carved sapphires, carved and drop-shaped emeralds, and mounted in gold and measuring 12.7 cm. The piece can be worn as two separate or twin brooches and as a pendant.

Anna's inspiration was the stone's vivid blue color and brilliance, which evoked a magnificent ocean with exceptional transparency and reminded her of one of her favorite films, Ang Lee's Life of Pi. The surrounding "sea leaf" adds her trademark fantasy design and the influence of flora, also very significant in her work.  As a Pisces, Anna's love for the ocean is profound which perhaps explains why she considers this exquisite royal blue sapphire the most beautiful stone she has ever worked with and its boundless clarity a symbol for freedom, the most basic and crucial of necessities for an artist.

About Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie

Anna Hu grew up studying classical music with a ferocious passion, becoming a nationally celebrated cellist at a very young age. When severe injuries to her shoulder derailed her thriving musical career, she turned to her second love: jewelry. She studied at the Gemological Institute of America (Graduate Gemologist), F.I.T. (jewelry design), Parsons School of Design (Masters in 19^thcentury French Jewelry), and Colombia University (Masters in Arts Administration). After working for storied companies and brands including Christie's New York, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Harry Winston, she founded her namesake brand, Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie, at the age of 30 and opened her first boutique in 2008 in New York.

Anna Hu is the only Asian American jewelry designer to work exclusively with French-trained artisans in elite workshops between Paris and New York. Her work combines eastern and western influences, often inspired by classical music and nature but she also draws references from Impressionism and Art Nouveau. Anna is as much a scholar as she is an artist and her designs reflect that rarity and sophistication.

Anna presented her first global exhibition at the Louvre's Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris in July 2012 at the age of 35 and celebrated the launch of her first book, "Symphony of Jewels, op. 1," published by The Vendome Press and Thames & Hudson in September 2012. It's a limited edition art book printed in Verona, Italy, featuring 100 pieces from Anna's illustrious body of work. Her goal is to publish 10 opuses in her career, each featuring 100 one-of-a-kind works of jewelry art.

Recognized internationally for her work, Anna received ELLE Taiwan's  "Jewelry Designer of the Year" award in 2013, ELLE China's "International Jewelry Designer of the Year" award in 2012, alongside Christian Louboutin and Viktor & Rolf, and the China Institute's "Artistic Vision" award in 2011 in New York; the first time it was ever given to a jewelry designer. Her jewelry has been worn by style-influencers the likes of Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Hilary Swank, Oprah Winfrey, the acclaimed contemporary artist Cindy Sherman, and Jetsun Pema, the Queen of Bhutan. She and her jewels have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, W, ELLE, The New York Times, InStyle, Robb Report, Vanity Fair UK, Vogue Gioiello, Wall Street Journal Europe and leading Chinese publications including South China Morning Post, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, ELLE, L'officiel, InStyle, Marie Claire, and Soon.

In 2013, Anna broke the world auction record for a Chinese contemporary artist with the $2.59 million sale of her Orpheus Jade Ring at the Christie's Hong Kong "Magnificent Jewels" sale.

SOURCE Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie