A spellbinding exhibition of Cartier jewels, many never seen before in public, opened in London tracing the history of the luxury French design house beloved by the rich and famous, from Queen Elizabeth II to Rihanna.
For the first time in three decades, the V&A museum is showing a retrospective of some of Cartier’s most iconic creations. Founded in Paris almost 180 years ago, the company has pioneered and modernised the luxury jewellery market.
“We all think of Cartier as being this wonderful design epic and glamorous name, but it’s also because they are so good at creating something that is ahead of the times, but doesn’t go out of fashion,” said curator Helen Molesworth.
The exhibition opened recently and is already sold out for April and May — but visitors have until November 16 to marvel at some 350 brooches, tiaras, necklaces and earrings festooned with diamonds, pearls and stunning jewels of all the colours of the rainbow.
The exhibition’s curators have brought together rare pieces from museums around the world, including from private collections such as items belonging to King Charles III and Monaco’s Prince Albert. One of the masterpieces on display is the breathtaking Williamson pink diamond rose brooch, made for Queen Elizabeth in 1953, the year of her coronation.
It contains a 23-carat pink diamond — one of the rarest, most flawless in the world — presented to the queen as a gift on her wedding to Prince Philip.
Nearby is a tiara from 1902 set with 1,048 diamonds worn to the queen’s coronation by Clementine Churchill, the wife of the then prime minister Winston Churchill. It was lent to singer Rihanna when she was photographed for the cover of W magazine in 2016.
There is also a sumptuous square-shaped diamond engagement ring, one of two offered to US actress Grace Kelly by Monaco’s Prince Rainier; and a diamond rose brooch worn by the queen’s sister, Princess Margaret. “We wanted to showcase … the legacy of Cartier over a hundred years,” said Molesworth. In one room, the curators have gathered a collection of 18 tiaras spanning from 1900 to the modern day — a grand finale to the dazzling display.
The design house was founded in Paris in 1847 when Louis-Francois Cartier took over the workshop of his master. In 1898, his grandson Louis Cartier joined the brand, and was to play a pivotal role in Cartier’s evolution. And then in 1902, his brother Pierre, opened a branch in London.
“We see very early on, even in the beginning of the 1900s, that Cartier is really looking around for inspiration,” said Molesworth.
“We see inspirations from the Islamic world, from Egypt, from China, from India. The brothers … travelled. They went to Russia, they went to India,” she added. Above all they managed to capture the changing moods of the times in which they lived. After the stunning diamond necklaces of the Roaring Twenties came more sober gold bracelets, designed in the 1960s.
“One of the great successes of Cartier is staying ahead of the times, being the trendsetters, and realising that they are keeping up with the changing world around them,” the curator said. During the war years, Cartier designed a brooch in 1942 of a caged bird to mark the Nazi occupation of France.
Following France’s liberation, the design was changed in 1944. Called “Free as a Bird” the brooch shows a chirping bird, bearing France’s distinctive red, white and blue colours, spreading its wings as it flies out of its cage.
The exhibition also wanted to explore the links between the French house and the British royal family, which dates back to the early 1900s. In 1904, King Edward VII officially appointed Cartier as jewellers to the monarchy — a title which it retains to this day.
This includes the Halo Tiara ordered by Queen Elizabeth II’s father, George VI, for his wife the late queen mother. Imbued with almost 800 diamonds, it was worn by Princess Margaret to the 1953 coronation of her sister Elizabeth and later to hold the veil of Kate Middleton on her marriage in 2011 to Prince William. Meanwhile, items connected to celebrities include actress Grace Kelly’s diamond engagement ring seen in the 1956 film “High Society” and a ruby necklace given to Elizabeth Taylor by her third husband, Mike Todd.
There is also a sapphire, yellow and rose gold wristwatch from 1962 owned by former US first lady Jackie Kennedy and later owned by reality star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian, as well as a tiara from 1902 that was made for the Countess of Wessex and later worn in 2016 by singer Rihanna. “As a jewellery historian, I see how they’ve used lots of wonderful elements to come up with brilliant new ideas,” Molesworth said. “They’ve always pushed boundaries and at every new point in history they have a nod to their heritage today, yet they have come up with new jewels that really speak to the modern woman.”
Established by Louis-François Cartier in Paris in 1847, the family-run business went on to become a household name popular with royalty and Hollywood stars alike. “It never goes out of fashion… we see it being worn by English aristocracy 100 years ago and Hollywood royalty practically today,” Helen Molesworth, a senior jewellery curator at the V&A and exhibition curator, said at a private launch of “Cartier.” Around the turn of the 20th century, it was Cartier’s grandsons who pushed the global prominence of the brand, opening branches outside France in cities such as New York and St. Petersburg. Cartier, which remained under family control until 1964, is currently owned by Swiss holding company Richemont.
Agencies
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