Art Deco Rock Crystal and Diamond Ring by Cartier, Paris, circa 1930

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

In the 1920s Paris became a center of artistic ferment, drawing people from around the world to Parisian cafes to share ideas during the Les années folles, or the crazy years. Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Berenice Abbott were just a handful of the artists creating masterworks in the city filled with movement, movement and ideas. Joining the excitement of the era, the designers at Cartier pushed the boundaries of fine jewelry, creating pieces that were bigger, bolder, and sometimes unexpected.

This sculptural rock crystal, platinum, and diamond ring exhibits an all-white color palette that emphasizes the play of light and shadow. The oversized design arches over the surrounding fingers in an architectural construction that creates an impactful and unusual piece. The diamonds are a secondary accent to the expanse of limpid rock crystal. The overall sensation of movement and light is masterful. This jewel was born in an era when black and white photography and film explored shape and movement, creating drama with light. The photographers Andre Kertesz, Brassaï, George Hoyningen-Heune, and Berenice Abbott created stark images with strong curves and chiaroscuro, light shapes emerging from darkness.

Cartier created this important Art Deco design on the cusp of a more serious era. The 1929 Stock Market crash ended the “crazy years” and had a sobering effect on art and design. Cartier moved away from the bright, exuberant colors in this piece, reducing it to a minimalist aesthetic that allowed the form to celebrate the play of light and dark. The firm had mastered the use of optically clear rock crystals with their mystery clocks in the previous decades, and here made the material wearable. This exceptional ring, a flight of creativity is unlike anything else Cartier created at the time and elevates jewelry to art.