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Lot 36
A fine diamond pendant, circa 1910
19 September 2017, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$35,000 inc. premium
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A fine diamond pendant, circa 1910
designed as a highly flexible, openwork, circular pendant, with delicate millegraining, centering an articulated round brilliant-cut diamond, weighing approximately 1.60 carats, suspended from a collet-set chain, with similarly cut diamond spacers; unsigned, attributed to Cartier; estimated remaining diamond weight: 9.00 carats; mounted in platinum; length: 21in.
Footnotes
This beautiful pendant exemplifies the superb workmanship from a master jeweler. The circular and highly flexible design, a Japanese inspired water motif, was a favorite used by Cartier during the end of the first decade of the 20th Century.
Moving away from the foliate scrolls and wreaths used in jewelry at the turn of the century, designs became more geometric. This signaled the beginning of a new style at which Cartier was the forefront. This pendant reflects this transitional period.
In The Cartier Collection there is an example of a similar brooch, created by Andrey Workshop, for Cartier in Paris. It was originally created as a hat pin for the Rothschild family as a special order. Later repurchased and transformed to a brooch and sold to Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt. This water motif was used for a series of similar extremely fluid diamond pendants, several with central diamonds, created by Cartier. Page 47, lower right, Judy Rudoe's book, Cartier 1900-1939 illustrates a plaster case of an almost identical pendant.
While this jewel is unsigned, it exhibits extraordinarily fluidity and expertly crafted millegraining and would most likely have begun life in a Paris workshop under the direction Cartier.