Cartier emerald and diamond necklace.

This Cartier emerald and diamond necklace is pretty spectacular.

First of all, it’s huge. HUGE. Those emeralds are 44.42 and 42.50 carats, and they’re surrounded by 75 carats of diamonds. You could put these stones on a paper plate and they’d still be spectacular.

I happen to think that Cartier did a marvelous job with their raw materials here. The overall design of the necklace is fairly simple, which I think is appropriate to showcase such high-caliber stones. It’s about 17 inches long; the hand in the photo above can give you a sense of the scale.

The shape of the three rows of diamonds draw the eye gently down to the two emeralds, pinching in slightly right before the center element for greater effect. The diamonds around the emeralds are graduated in size to lend maximum emphasis to the beautiful green gems. The stones are  mounted in platinum and 18 karat yellow gold.

You can also see, if you look closely, clusters of pear-shaped dimonds framing the diamond-wreathed emeralds of the center elements. The contrast in shape adds a bit of texture. A lot of thought went into this necklace.

This Cartier emerald and diamond necklace was listed in Sotheby’s October 2011Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite sale. All images and info are thanks to Sotheby’s.

I’m giving away a pair of diamond earrings! Have you entered the contest yet?