Based in Paris 179 years in the past, Cartier has fostered a mythical popularity because the writer of luxurious items for royalty, the aristocracy, movie stars, and the normally rich. The English king Edward VII famously referred to Cartier as “the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers”.
The glittering elegance of the Cartier taste in the course of the ages has been introduced in combination in a significant exhibition by way of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, now being offered on the Nationwide Gallery of Victoria.
An rapid hit
Curated over nearly a decade by way of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Helen Molesworth, the Cartier display opened in London ultimate yr for a seven-month season and promptly bought out.
With nearly 350 pieces on show, it was once celebrated by way of many as one of the vital absolute best displays of 2025. On the other hand, one complaint was once the exhibition was once too cramped, and the inevitable small scale of lots of the items ended in a crowd weigh down inside of darkened areas.
The NGV iteration of the exhibition, with nearly 400 pieces, items plenty of alterations to the tick list of shows, such because the inclusion of necklaces and bodice embellishes owned by way of Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. Melba was once an early consumer of the emblem, with Pierre Cartier amongst her lovers.
Nellie Melba, her father, David Mitchell, and a tender lady (Nellie’s niece, Nellie Paterson), in Melbourne, Australia, 1903. Bain Information Provider, Writer.
Extra considerably, the NGV has collaborated with across the world famend designers to reimagine the exhibition, following in a practice it has established for itself over a number of years.
The gallery has collaborated with Studio Sabine Marcelis and CLOUD, two multidisciplinary design practices founded in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands.
Marcelis inspires the Cartier color palette in her design, whilst CLOUD has constructed at the Cartier geometric bureaucracy to create light-filled architectural constructions which might be keen on an inventive discussion with the jewelry.
A thumbnail caricature of Cartier’s taste
The thumbnail caricature of the advance of the Cartier taste is obligatory for working out the exhibition.
Louis-François Cartier based the company in Paris in 1847, and in 1874 handed it to his son Alfred. It was once Alfred’s 3 sons – Louis, Pierre and Jacques – who internationalised the emblem and made it right into a powerhouse of favor design, with places of work in Paris, London, New York and St Petersburg.
Louis embraced orientalist Artwork Deco designs and vibrant “Tutti Frutti” jewel combos. He additionally pioneered wristwatch designs and exploited platinum as a structural base for elaborate diamond and gemstone settings within the jewelry.
Pierre prolonged operations to New York, whilst Jacques evolved operations in New Bond Boulevard in London.
Alfred Cartier (2nd from proper) along with his 3 sons (left to proper), Pierre, Louis and Jacques, 1922, Archives Cartier Paris © Cartier.
It’s tricky to outline the Cartier design, but slightly easy to recognise it whilst you come upon it.
Writing within the NGV Cartier catalogue, Vivienne Becker, a prolific London-based jewelry historian, arrives at a powerful characterisation. She writes that the manner:
is underpinned by way of tradition, by way of an ever-evolving quest to infuse jewelry design with originality, inventive integrity and cultural richness.
As one makes their means across the exhibition, there’s consistent come upon with kinds from the previous – together with Egyptian, Chinese language, Eastern, Iranian and Islamic parts – informing using diamonds and different valuable fabrics.
A who’s-who listing of shoppers
Cartier additionally has its repertoire of signature motifs, comparable to the long-lasting Panthère, which would possibly seem as a panther clip brooch, or snakes and crocodiles that may take the sorts of necklaces and bracelets.
The exhibition comprises most of the emblem’s signature animal motifs.
Joel Carrett
As jewellers and watchmakers, Cartier was once referred to as the “watchmaker of shapes” – exploiting squares, rectangles and octagons, somewhat than the standard circle.
Whilst celebrating a preferrred magnificence, lots of the pieces on show have the facility to wonder, comparable to a impressive scarab brooch, or a 1933 brooch with an enormous floating amethyst set towards sapphires, diamonds and platinum.
Brooch, Cartier London, 1933. Amethyst, sapphires, diamonds and platinum. Cartier Assortment, Vincent Wulveryck, Cartier Assortment © Cartier.
A spotlight of the exhibition is the show of greater than 20 shocking tiaras. Those are symbols of royalty and glamour, with connotations of celestial halos, laurel wreaths and garlands.
Those tiaras had been worn by way of a who’s who of celebrities. For example, one scroll tiara (1902) was once worn by way of Clementine Churchill on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and once more in 2016 by way of the singer Rihanna, at the duvet of W mag.
There could also be the Solar tiara of 1907, with a 32-carat cognac-yellow diamond at its core, and the Artwork Deco diamond and platinum Halo tiara of 1934, which was once impressed by way of historic Egypt and owned by way of Begum Aga Khan III.
Family names who’ve worn the Cartier jewelry provide on this exhibition come with Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Rihanna, Princess Margaret, The Duchess of Windsor, Dame Nellie Melba, the Maharaja of Patiala, Begum Aga Khan III and American heiress Barbara Hutton. Those will end up a selfie magnet for lots of guests.
Princess Margaret dressed in the Cartier rose clip brooch, 1955. {Photograph} by way of Cecil.
Beaton Cartier Assortment, Vincent Wulveryck, Cartier Assortment © Cartier
Whilst this isn’t the primary primary Cartier exhibition in Australia (there was once a large display in Canberra in 2018), it’s the greatest, containing nearly 300 pieces by no means prior to now observed in Australia. It is usually probably the most leading edge in its show.
Cartier continues to resonate with its audiences by way of going past mere presentations of ostentatious wealth; it faucets into historic cultures and traditions, making them trendy and related to recent audiences.
There’s a complete catalogue of luminaries and family names of wearers of the Cartier jewelry provide on this exhibition.
Joel Carrett
Cartier is appearing on the Nationwide Gallery of Victoria from June 12 to October 4.
