Skip to content
Macklowe Gallery Cartier Art Deco Jadeite and Diamond Brooch

Cartier Art Deco Jadeite and Diamond Brooch

$65,000
Created circa 1928 by Cartier New York, this Art Deco brooch is composed of jadeite, diamonds, enamel and platinum. Its design, deriving from Islamic art, is a scalloped navette with elevations of pavé-set diamond scrolls outlined in black enamel, vertically flanking a floral-carved jadeite cylinder with diamond caps bound by arches of baguette-cut diamonds. Worn vertically on the strap of a dress, or at the neckline, this versatile Cartier jewel from the 1920s is Art Deco with intellectual and artistic power.

Add to Wishlist

  • Product Details
  • Curator's Notes

Item #: BO-21524
Artist: Cartier New York
Circa: 1928
Dimensions: 1.25" length, 2.75" width.
Materials: 1 carved jadeite cylinder; 20 baguette and 147 old European and transitional cut diamonds (approximate total weight 5.00 carats); Enamel; Platinum
Signed: Workshop #11969
Documentation: Accompanied by letter of expertise no. XP1640-080424 dated April 8, 2024 by Olivier Bachet for IAJA stating that the brooch is in his opinion a "genuine Cartier item." Also accompanied by an illustrated receipt for the brooch from Cartier dated July 1, 1988.

"A curious and scholarly man of taste," Louis Cartier and his designers were deeply impressed by the 1903 Exposition des arts musulmans at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, a watershed show of Islamic Art about which one Parisian collector commented "One's eyes were not truly opened until 1903." Louis' reference library of books on Islamic art and architecture, along with objets such as painted miniatures, book bindings, scholar's pen boxes, inlaid hardstone and metal vessels, were placed at the disposal of his designers. By 1904, saturated with the abstract forms and motifs represented by the Islamic sensibility, Cartier had created its own version of the modern jewel, distinct and distanced from the Art Nouveau, but longer lasting in its power and influence. This navette form brooch may derive from the intricate geometric motifs placed vertically on Persian book bindings and scholar's pen boxes.
X