This bracelet really is extra super pretty. It’s more than that; it’s spectacular, magnificent, incredible. It deserves to be described in only multi-syllabic superlatives.
You see my point? I’ve been saving this one to unveil on my birthday week, and there’s no question in my mind that it was worth the wait.
This unique, rare, and exceptionally beautiful bracelet is the work of Cartier,and is from the late 1920’s. It’s designed as a highly-articulated (read: fully flexible), vine set with set with cushion-shaped, circular-, single-cut, and rose diamonds. The diamond vine is blossoming with conch pearl fruits or flowers and is embellished with black enamel. It’s subtle and opulent all at the same time.
The use of conch pearls is what makes this piece so unusual. An informative tidbit thanks to the Sotheby’s Catalogue Note:
“We know of no other significant Cartier jewel that employed the charming baby pink conch pearl in conjunction with black enamel and diamonds. The fruiting vine central motif is shared with other highly chromatic ‘tutti frutti’ bracelets designed in the company’s workshops at this date. Although the design is totally balanced and harmonious, the principal gems, all of different sizes and slightly different shades of colour are placed asymmetrically giving the jewel a sense of tension which is highly unusual. ” Excerpt from the recently released book ‘Celebrating Jewellery: Exceptional Jewels of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, by David Bennett and Daniela Mascetti, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2012, page 159.
So there you go. This is no run-of-the-mill piece, even among antique Cartier bracelets.
Sigh. It contains so many of my favorite design elements that I can’t even stand it. Try not to drool on your keyboards too much.
This miracle of a bracelet was listed in Sotheby’s November 2012 Magnificent Jewels sale. All images and info are thanks to Sotheby’s.
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Lovely, worthy of a princess, delight to a pauper
Such a poetic comment! Thank you.