Panthère Dentelle

THE PANTHÈRE DE CARTIER COMES TO LIFE

Free femininity transposed into jewellery

THE PANTHER MADE ITS FIRST APPEARANCE AT CARTIER ON A 1914 WRISTWATCH IN THE ABSTRACT FORM OF A MOTIF COMPOSED OF ONYX SPOTS AND DIAMONDS. FROM 1917 ONWARDS, LOUIS CARTIER INTRODUCED THE FIGURATIVE PANTHER TO PRECIOUS VANITY CASES, WHERE IT COULD BE SEEN IN PROFILE WALKING BETWEEN TWO CYPRESS TREES.

THE ANIMAL GRADUALLY MADE A LASTING MARK ON THE MAISON'S ENTIRE REPERTOIRE, HOWEVER IT WAS JEANNE TOUSSAINT, A HISTORICAL CARTIER FIGURE, WHO TRULY AND DECISIVELY MADE IT HER OWN. SHE WAS A CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF LOUIS CARTIER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR FROM 1933.

FELINE AND FEMALE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER; JEANNE TOUSSAINT SENSED ITS SYMBOLIC POTENTIAL AND POWER OF ATTRACTION. AS THE IMAGE OF ASSERTIVE FEMININITY, THE FIGURE OF THE PANTHER RESONATED WITH THE HEADSTRONG AND SPIRITED WOMEN OF HER ENTOURAGE, WHOM SHE UNDERSTOOD WELL. IN 1948, TOUSSAINT (WHO WAS ALSO KNOWN AS “LA PANTHÈRE”) DESIGNED A BROOCH FOR THE DUCHESS OF WINDSOR: A THREE-DIMENSIONAL PANTHER SITTING ATOP AN EMERALD CABOCHON. THE NEXT YEAR A FURTHER PANTHER EMERGED GUARDING A PRECIOUS SAPPHIRE CABOCHON. JEANNE – AND THE MAISON WITH HER – TRANSFORMED THE FELINE INTO A SYMBOL OF RADIANT FEMININITY FREED FROM CONVENTION.

AT THIS YEAR’S SIHH, CARTIER IS ENHANCING AND TRANSFIGURING THE PANTHER WITH THREE MAIN CREATIVE CURRENTS: BY UNITING JEWELLERY AND WATCHMAKING; THROUGH CARTIER’S BELOVED ARTISTIC CRAFTS; AND BY MINGLING MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH THE MAISON’S LATEST WATCHMAKING INNOVATION.