Art Deco Sterling Silver Five-Piece Bar Set by Cartier, Paris, circa 1930
Art Deco Sterling Silver Five-Piece Bar Set by Cartier, Paris, circa 1930
A bar set composed of a beehive-shaped jigger topped with a bumble bee, a pair of ice tongs with scroll details, a long spoon with a muddler end, a pick, and a bottle opener with rounded handles echoing the muddler design; sterling silver; in original Cartier fitted case
- All signed Cartier
- Jigger: 5 5/8 × 2¼ inches, tongs: 7 1/2 × 2¼ inches, spoon: 12¼ x 1¼ inches, pick: 5 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches, opener: 5 3/4 × 1 3/4 inches
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
The idea of the cocktail likely originated in 19th-century America, with the
earliest (cheeky) definition appearing in a Hudson Valley Federalist newspaper in 1806. “A cock-tail, then, is a stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind—sugar, water, and bitters . . . it is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said, also to be of great use to a Democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.” The first bartender’s guide was published in 1862, How to Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion and marked the start of the Golden Era of cocktails, when the classics were created including the martini, daiquiri, and Manhattan.
This Cartier cocktail set was likely created in the post-prohibition era around 1933, when the enthusiasm for cocktails in the United States aligned with the rest of the world and coincided with the late Art Deco period. The clean lines of the highly polished silver objects, such as this cocktail set, reflected the stripped-down aesthetics of the era that celebrated the advances of technology and the fast pace of the world. As rail and automotive travel gained popularity, jazz-filled cocktail lounges, elegant supper clubs, and evening cabarets drew crowds to the barkeepers and mixologist who developed new-fangled concoctions with names like the sidecar, the bee’s knees, and the gin rickey.
From Cartier’s founding in the 19th century, the company has offered a variety of decorative and functional objects to their clients. This unusual cocktail set is an iconic and beautiful object that would be an exquisite functional addition to any collection.
