Jennifer Tonkin
Co-Head of Department UK
Lot 132
CARTIER: SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND 'PANTHÈRE' BROOCH, CIRCA 1980
11 December 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street£30,000 - £40,000
Ask about this lot
Kate Flitcroft
Co-Head of Department UK
Charlotte Holmes
Senior Specialist
Jose MariaFiguerola
Senior Specialist
Aimee Wickes
Sale Coordinator
CARTIER: SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND 'PANTHÈRE' BROOCH, CIRCA 1980
The prowling panther pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds, cabochon sapphire accents throughout and pear-shaped emerald eyes, signed Cartier, numbered 617942, maker's mark, French assay marks, maker's mark, diamonds approximately 1.50 carats total, length 5.5cm
Footnotes
The Panthère is one of Cartier's most celebrated and enduring motifs. As early as 1913, chief designer, Charles Jacqueau (1885–1968), began experimenting with the idea of a panther and is credited with creating Cartier's first jewel featuring the distinctive spotted pattern in 1914. The theme gained further prominence through French illustrator, George Barbier's 'Lady with a Panther', an image that so impressed Louis Cartier, it was adopted in the firm's advertising.
Louis Cartier fondly nicknamed Jeanne Toussaint, 'La Panthère', for her long chic coat of panther fur, fierce intellect and unwavering determination. Toussaint was appointed the artistic director of Cartier in 1933 and she made the Panthère an integral part of Cartier's identity. In 1948, at the request of the Duke of Windsor, the first three-dimensional Cartier 'Panthère' jewel was created for his wife, the Duchess of Windsor, with a second purchased the following year. The Panthère has been reimagined many times since and continues to endure as the embodiment of Cartier's signature style, strength, fortitude and spirit of sophistication.