The Alhambra is the piece of jewelry Van Cleef & Arpels is most often recognized for, and the 10-motif necklace is its defining form. Jacques Arpels created the original Alhambra in 1968, drawing the quatrefoil clover from the Moorish tilework of Andalusia and framing it with the beaded gold border that has become one of the most recognizable signatures in twentieth-century jewelry. Nearly six decades later, the design has not been altered — and the 10-motif length, sitting just at the collarbone, remains the reference standard against which every other Alhambra is measured. This pre-owned example is rendered in 18k white gold with mother-of-pearl inlays, the coolest and most contemporary of the collection's pairings.

The necklace carries ten individual quatrefoil motifs, each one set with a disc of iridescent white mother-of-pearl cut to the precise silhouette of the clover. The mother-of-pearl is the detail that separates a good Alhambra from a great one. Van Cleef & Arpels hand-selects each piece from the nacre layer of the oyster shell for uniformity of color, consistency of sheen, and absence of surface imperfection — and the result is a row of ten stones that shift from pale silver to soft champagne to faint pink depending on how the light moves across them. No two motifs are ever identical, which is the point.

Framing each motif is the signature perlée border: twenty tiny gold beads soldered individually around the perimeter of the quatrefoil, a technique that has been part of the Alhambra since the original 1968 commission. In white gold, the beaded edge reads as almost platinum-bright against the nacre, giving the piece a cooler, more modern presence than the yellow gold version without losing any of the warmth that makes Alhambra so wearable. The motifs are linked by fine white gold chain segments and finished with a discreet logo-engraved clasp.

The 10-motif length is the length Van Cleef & Arpels designed as the everyday Alhambra. It sits at the base of the throat, frames a collar beautifully, and pairs as easily with a t-shirt as it does with evening wear. The maison's current production reference for this configuration is VCARF48500, and it is one of the most consistently requested pieces in the entire Van Cleef & Arpels catalog — a status that has held the Alhambra's secondary-market values remarkably firm, particularly for white gold variants, which are produced in smaller numbers than their yellow gold counterparts.