Jennifer Tonkin
Co-Head of Department UK
Lot 148
CARTIER: RUBY AND DIAMOND NECKLACE, CIRCA 1935
11 December 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street£40,000 - £60,000
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Kate Flitcroft
Co-Head of Department UK
Charlotte Holmes
Senior Specialist
Jose MariaFiguerola
Senior Specialist
Aimee Wickes
Sale Coordinator
CARTIER: RUBY AND DIAMOND NECKLACE, CIRCA 1935
Of Persian inspiration and highly articulated form, set to the front with a graduation of old brilliant-cut diamond palmette motifs, accented by oval and cushion-cut rubies, graduating in size towards the centre, with baguette and step-cut diamonds between, on a similarly-set clasp, via an old brilliant-cut diamond backchain, mounted in platinum, signed Cartier London, numbered 2732, maker's mark JC, rubies very approximately 11.00 carats total, diamonds approximately 22.00 carats total, length 39.0cm, cased by Garrard & Co
Footnotes
Accompanied by a report from GCS stating that the rubies are of Burmese origin with no indications of heat treatment. Report number 5785-2859, dated 26th June 2025.
Even before the Great War, Cartier was ahead of its time, producing jewels in what would later be called, the Art Deco style. These early designs were heavily inspired by Louis and Jacques Cartier's extensive travels across the Middle and Far East, which resulted in their prolific creativity and innovation. The Cartier brothers explored a vast range of both natural and geometric forms and a rich combination of gemstones that was deemed unusual to Western eyes at the time.
The present necklace is an example of Cartier's mature Art Deco style of the 1930s which marked a return to white diamond jewellery, set with a combination of vari-cut stones and a pop of colour. The Persian inspired palmette motifs appear in other Cartier creations from the same period, such as the diamond tiara made for Mary, Duchess of Roxeburghe and the emerald and diamond necklace commissioned by Lady Granard.
For Lady Granard's emerald and diamond necklace, see Rudoe, J. 'Cartier 1900-1939', 1997, pp.237, pl.166.