Gold and Diamond Mesh Scarf Necklace by Cartier, circa 1960

Biography

Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. His three grandsons, Louis, Pierre, and Jacques, built the house into a famous international jewelry empire serving royalty, Hollywood stars, and socialites. Cartier has created some of the most important jewelry and objects of art of the twentieth century with many iconic designs such as mystery clocks, Tutti Frutti jewelry and the Panthère line. In 1983, The Cartier Collection was established with the objective of acquiring important pieces that trace the firm’s artistic evolution. Today, Cartier has 200 stores in 125 countries.

Significance

For as long as jewelry has existed, it has been used to fix and hold fabric from woolen scarves to silken royal sashes. Eventually, artists began to turn fabrics and trimmings into jewelry, reproducing supple fabric, realistic lace, and knotted bows. This incredible gold mesh necklace by Cartier envisions the supple metal as a fabric scarf, crossed at the center and secured by a line of diamonds. The design references the historic link between fabric and jewelry while creating an incredible new and modern design.

The fabrication of gold mesh is a painstaking process that requires artisans to draw gold into long wires, which are then woven into a mesh much like thread is woven into fabric. A perfectly balanced mesh is strong but also soft and flexible. The techniques used to create gold mesh reach back to the Ancient Egyptians who created complicated loop-in-loop woven chains that eventually led to complicated jewelry called Viking knit. Those same techniques were used in smithing medieval chainmail body armor that required both strength and flexibility. This ancient mesh structure gained prominence again during the Industrial Revolution as machines were employed to knit wire and the resulting mesh had many applications as filters and other components, especially during the technological boom of World War II. This incredible midcentury necklace is an exploration of both ancient technique and modern industrial influences.

Cartier has a long history of creating phenomenal bows. During the Belle Epoque period they were elaborate confections of platinum and diamond. Sometimes the bows would even incorporate actual ribbon, other times the company was creating the look of passementerie ( fabric trimmings) in stone and metal. In this necklace, Cartier embraced the subtle and difficult work of making rigid gold behave like gently folded fabric to create the form of a scarf secured at the neck. The mesh isn’t creating an illusion of flexibility, but because it is woven it moves and behave like fabric, even forming gentle folds around the diamond knot. This jewel is a delightful exploration that pushes our expectation of how metal behaves and elevates the design to art.