After a sell-out run at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Cartier is bringing its exquisite collection to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne as part of the Winter Masterpieces series. The exhibition features more than 350 jewels, including gemstones the size of golf balls, and tells the story of how three brothers – Louis, Pierre and Jacques Cartier – transformed their grandfather’s small Parisian business into a global sensation.
A History of Opulence
Throughout the tumultuous 20th century, Cartier was the jeweller of choice for the elite – adorning aristocrats, industrialists and actors. Many of the maison’s most opulent and exquisitely crafted jewels drew inspiration from the natural world. NGV senior curators Dr Miranda Wallace and Amanda Dunsmore explore Cartier’s ongoing fascination with animals.
Symbols of Resistance
During the Nazi occupation of Paris, Cartier created a caged bird motif as a symbol of resistance, seen on a brooch made in 1942. The bird represented France under German occupation, and several pieces were displayed in the jeweller’s shop windows. ‘It didn’t go unnoticed,’ curator Miranda Wallace says. Jeanne Toussaint, director of fine jewellery, ‘was hauled in for questioning by the Gestapo’. At the time, platinum was reserved for the war effort, so many pieces from this period were made in gold.
A counterpart to the caged bird, a pendant made in 1944 shortly after liberation shows a bird on the brink with its wings out, symbolising freedom. ‘It’s on the brink with its wings out, so it’s being freed, essentially,’ Dunsmore says.
Exquisite Craftsmanship
A small pelican brooch from 1929 showcases Cartier’s innovative use of colour, with jade, coral, sapphire and diamonds. The cabochon-cut jade body is an early example of a ‘sculptural idiom’ that later defined Cartier’s style. Another brooch, made in 1944 under Toussaint’s direction, features a ruby cabochon the size of a lollipop and was later adapted to remove a gold tail, transforming it from a bird of paradise to a woodpecker.
During Frederick Mew’s tenure as lead designer of Cartier London in the 1950s, he produced a series of kingfisher designs. One brooch most likely features an Australian opal, an uncommon gem for the maison.
Jewels for the Elite
A flamingo brooch was commissioned for the Duchess of Windsor, who, like the bird, was American. Making the Duchess’s jewels was a major undertaking for Cartier, and the flamingo is one of her most famous treasures. ‘It’s very noticeable when you see her wearing it … And it’s got this little cabochon sapphire on the end of its beak, which is quite amazing,’ Dunsmore says. The designers possibly visited the Jardin des Plantes, Paris’s major zoo, for inspiration.
Jewellery was a love language for the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, often inscribed with personal messages. An enamel pug pin was one such commission, reflecting the Duchess’s fondness for pugs.
A 152.35-carat Kashmir sapphire cabochon, the size of a small strawberry, was bought by the Duke of Windsor for his wife. Designed by Toussaint, the panther motif is recurrent for Cartier; Toussaint’s nickname was La Panthère. In the early 20th century, wild cats were fashionable, as seen in the movie Bringing Up Baby.
The Enduring Panther
Cartier’s earliest use of a big cat skin pattern dates to 1914. A 1980s brooch features a panther rendered in pavé diamonds and sapphires, with articulated legs. ‘You can just see some of the lines where there’s that tiniest hinge in there for the legs to swing,’ Wallace says. For a 1980s piece, ‘it’s actually a very subtle jewel’.
A double-headed panther bangle in gold and enamel is more typical of its era. In the 1980s and 1990s, the panther became central to Cartier’s marketing, with live panthers in advertisements.
Stone Carving and Exotic Creatures
Cartier is one of the few remaining jewellers with a dedicated glyptics workshop. A piece designed by Toussaint in 1969 features carved lapis lazuli with an almost psychedelic character. A jaguar atop a 121.81-carat cushion-shaped yellow beryl is carved from Australian nephrite, known as Australian jade. Dunsmore says the beryl is about two-thirds the size of a Tim Tam.
Stone carving has always been a Cartier capability. In the early 20th century, its chief rival for aristocratic patronage was Fabergé, which made a small chinchilla sculpture. Cartier began making carvings in the Russian style to expand its clientele.
Cartier produced a wide range of exotic animal sculptures, including kangaroos. ‘I’m sure that whoever … designed them or carved them both perhaps actually saw live kangaroos, because they really have that detail and level of realism about them,’ Dunsmore says. One sculpture has two joeys in the pouch; Wallace called a kangaroo sanctuary and was told twins are incredibly rare.
Reptiles and Mythical Beasts
Since antiquity, jewellers have drawn inspiration from reptiles. Cartier’s reptile jewellery includes a piece with brown and yellow diamonds, articulated so its head swivels and tail moves.
Rumour has it that Mexican actor Maria Félix brought a real baby crocodile into Cartier’s Paris workshop when commissioning a bold necklace. ‘She’d leave it with them because she wanted them to really make it realistic,’ Wallace says. The crocodiles can be split into two brooches, and their claws swapped for softer versions to avoid scratching.
Also commissioned by Félix, a fully articulated snake necklace is so lifelike it’s ‘sort of creepy’, Dunsmore says. The colours on its belly are from the Mexican flag.
A dragonfly brooch, produced in the style of 18th-century tremblant jewellery, has wings set on small springs. ‘Being set with diamonds they really would just catch the light beautifully,’ Wallace says.
Not every animal was living: a coral and emerald bracelet commissioned for Félix is a chimera, ‘a mythical beast … with resonances from both classical antiquity and Asian cultures’, Dunsmore says. She considers it one of the most beautiful pieces in the exhibition.
Another chimera bracelet, commissioned for socialite Daisy Fellowes, is also in coral with diamonds and emeralds but ‘very, very different in aesthetic – not half as beautiful, in my personal opinion’, Dunsmore adds.
Global Inspirations
After the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the 1920s, Egyptian mania swept Europe. Louis Cartier incorporated ancient antiques into jewels, including a scarab brooch with wings made of onyx, citrines, rubies, emeralds and diamonds.
Cartier also incorporated antiques from Persia, India and China. A mystery clock made for the maharaja of Nawanagar in 1928 features an 18th-century jade elephant from China.
From 2012, a koala face watch uses straw marquetry, a technique dating to the 18th century. ‘It’s one of those métier or creative practices that’s actually been revived in more recent times,’ Dunsmore says. Marsupials are ‘not common in the pantheon of Cartier jewels’, so Australians will notice them.
Cartier will be on show at NGV International from 12 June to 4 October. Guardian Australia travelled to Melbourne courtesy of the NGV.
