A New Cartier Exhibition in London Showcases Royal Jewels – ryan

Photo: Peter Kelleher/Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In the Summer of 1957, Elizabeth Taylor was in her natural habitat: luxuriating in the splendor of the French Riviera. The Hollywood Icon Had Recently Maried Film Producer Mike Taylor – Her Third Husband Out of Six, If You Counting – and was swimming pencil in the pool of villa. Suddenly, Her namesake appeared and surpassed her with a cartier necklace, fashioned with shimmering White Diamonds and Luscious Rubies. “He was Holding A Red Leather Box, and Inside was a ruby ​​necklace, which glittered in the warm light,” she wrote in her 2002 Book, Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry. “It was like the sun, lit up and made of Red Fire.”

Taylor’s Red-Fire Necklace is One of More than 350 Cartier Pieces Currently on Display at An Eponymous at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. IT SITS ALONGSIDE GRACE KELLY’S ENGEGEMENT Ring, A Diamond-And-Platinum Booch Owned by Elton John, and a Sapphire Wristwatch That Once Belonged to Jackie Kennedy before it was Later Acquired by Kim Kardashian. It ‘a testament to the fact that, acroSs decades and eras, Cartier han ben synonymous with literal Across the World, Hollywood Royalty, and, More Recently, reality-TV Royalty.

But that is far from the which story. Curated by Hellen MoleSworth and Art-Directed by British Designer Asif Khan, The Exhibit Taks US Back to the Start of Cartier’s Story. When Brother Louis, Pierre, and Jacques Cartier Joined Their Father, Alfred, in the Family Business, They Set Out to Create the First Globally Recognized Jewelry House. By 1909, they had Estabished Branches in Three Major Cities: Paris, London, and New York. Within Just Three Generations of Being Founded by their Grandfather Louis-Francois in 1847, Maison Cartier Became a Peerless Force in the Jewelry Industry.

The Exhibit Begins with the Manchester Tiara-a piece Featuring 1,513 White Diamonds with a design inspired by 18th-Century French Architecture and Ironwork. (It was commisoked in 1903 by the dowager duches of Manchester, One of Many American “Dollar Princesses” Who Married the British Aristocracy.) Next, there is a collection from France featuring brooch – Arranged, Simulating the Flow of Fabric.

The Striking Thing About The Exhibit is Just How Global Cartier Was – Far Beyond London, Paris and New York. In Egypt, They Created brooches inspired by Scarab beetles and Lotus Flower Deities. In India, Their Pieces were emblematic with stunning green emeralds and scarlet rubies, incorporating iconography Such as cypress trees, Panters, and deer. In China, The Maison Reinterpreted Mythical Creatures like the dragon and phoenix. And in japan, their pieces incorporated obi knots and motifs from textiles into diamond brooches adorned with japanese flora and fauna.

TODAY, CARTIER IS AN ADVOCATE FOR SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL DIAMOND SOURCING, but the EXHIBIT DOES NOT SHY AWAY From Its History. We see the Star of the South-A Huge, 128.48-Carat Rose-Tintted White Diamond That Was Discovered by an Enslaved Woman in Brazil in 1853.

Today, Cartier isn’t Only for Royalty. AFTER AN OWNERSHIP Change, the brand debut the must de cartier line in 1973 – a range of ittems at a Lower price point that brought it signature motif to a wider audience.

But at the risk of sounding materialistic or elitist, the magic of the exhibit-and of cartier itelf-is in its ostentious, one-of-a-kind pieces. The Iconic Snake Necklace, Commissioned by Mexican Film Star María Félix in 1968, Features 2,473 Diamonds that re-create the lifelike Movement of the reptile as it work around the wearer’s neck. or Peacock Booch, emblem with rubies, sapphires, emerald, and diamonds, was custom-in Wallis Simpson, The Duches of Windsor-One of Cartier’s Most Frequent Clients.

For the Prophet, Countless Pieces have been loaned to the v & a by king charles Himself – Such as a diamond microphone charm gifted to a teenage Queen Elizabeth II by Her Father, King George VI, to Mark Her first Live Speech on the radio. In 1937, Cartier Made 27 Tiaras – An annual record to this day – Most of whic were worn to king George’s Coronation.

It is this sense of mystery that compiled with Most. The pieces conjure cinematic stories of aristocratic deviousness and deception, like the royal intrigue we saw dramatized in The Crownor The Gossipy High-Society Scandals of HBO’s The Gilded Age. I Found MySelf Wishing, If only these diamonds coulud talc.