THE CARTIER JEWELLERY OF WALLIS SIMPSON
Cartier diamond and Onyx panther bracelet (Paris, 1952)
designed for Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.
‘Fashion fades, style is eternal[1]’
-
Yves Saint Laurent[2]
Wallis
Simpson (1896-1986), an American socialite became the Duchess of Windsor after
marrying her third husband Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward
VIII[3] in
1937. She is regarded as one of the most fashionable women of all time, a style
icon in every sense of the word, not just because of the clothes she wore but
everything from her interiors, entertaining and most importantly, her exquisite
collection of jewellery. Her collection has been described as ‘the most important … put together
in the 20th century’[4]
(David Bennett, Chairman of Sotheby’s Jewellery in Europe and the Middle East).
Wallis
was a creature of fashion. Her style was
quintessentially French; simple but chic with a sense of severity about it. The
photographer Cecil Beaton called her ‘tidy, neat, immaculate’.[5] The
words of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, quoted at the beginning of
this essay, are appropriate when talking about Wallis Simpson. What the
designer is saying is that real style is eternal and that you don’t need to be fashionable to be stylish[6]. The
public fascination and obsession for ‘that woman[7]’
is still as strong today. There is undoubtedly something eternal about Wallis’
style that still resonates today, evident from the prices that her jewellery is
fetching at auctions today[8].
Fashion and jewellery were her life; she declared that she ‘would rather shop
than eat’[9]. She used her severe and simple
couture dresses as a blank canvas for her extravagant jewels that would always amaze and shock. Her
jewels were always larger than life. In 1936, when the love affair between her and
the Duke was reaching boiling point, the society chronicler Henry ‘Chips’
Channon wrote that ‘her collection of jewels is the talk of London, […]she was literally
smothered in rubies[10].’
The catalogue describes the piece as being ‘designed to encircle the wrist and to assume a stalking
attitude, pavé-set with brilliant- and single-cut diamonds and calibré-cut
onyx, the glittering eyes each set with a marquise-shaped emerald, wearing length approximately 165mm, total
length approximately 195mm, signed Cartier, Paris and numbered, French assay
and maker's marks; the bracelet divides in two places, under the head and in
the centre of the back, the tongue-piece of the latter inscribed, Cartier, Paris; the clasped numbered; 07532,
several small stones deficient’[16].
It is startling that the bracelet made such a high price despite the missing
stones.
Jewellery is usually full of symbolism and
emotions; they are not just gems and diamonds. The jewellery collection
of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor has extraordinary provenance. It tells the story
of romantic and passionate love affair that was strong enough to make a king
give up an empire[17].
The jewellery is steeped in history; each piece represents a moment or event in
their lives. Most of the pieces in her collection bear personal inscriptions
and secret messages; their private and personal language of love, which make
the collection more unique and unusual. In fact, the Duke was only continuing a
royal tradition[18].
This predatory, gem-set panther is a powerful object of desire[19]. Cartier’s agile panther jewels reflected the
intense sexual chemistry of the Windsors and expressed their childish lovers’
language in the secret messages of passion and desire engraved on the back. Cartier’s
‘Great Cats’ expressed the Windsor’s passion for jewels.
The
inspiration for these jewels had come from Jeanne Toussaint (1887-1978), whose
association with the firm began in 1915. The cats are among her most famous
animal jewels. Jeanne was an intimate companion of Louis Cartier, (1874-1942),
by whom she was affectionately known as 'Panthère'. In 1934, she became responsible for the Haute-Joaillerie of the firm by Louis
Cartier, and soon afterwards began conferring with the Duke of Windsor on many
jewellery projects[20]. Mme Toussaint indulged her own passion for
the animal by scattering her apartment in Paris with panther skins[21]. She, the soul of Cartier’s animal creations,
convinced the Duchess that she alone deserved to wear the sapphire panther
brooch[22]. Jeanne
Toussaint oversaw the whole panther range collaborating with the firm's
designers, most notably Peter Lemarchand, (1906–1970). He established the panther silhouette in the
1940s and subsequently the appearance of lifelike panther and tiger jewels in
every sort of pose. Lemarchand was very
quick at putting his ideas onto paper.
He would visit the zoo at Vincennes to draw the cats from life, studying
their distinctive feline movement and physical structure[23]. The
cat inspired jewels by Cartier reflect a style, an era and creative boldness in
jewellery, and they bear witness to Cartier’s extraordinary encounter with this
legendary couple. Today, they rank among the most moving haute joaillerie
pieces of the Cartier Collection[24].
Although
the jewellery is extremely important historically, it is also important from an
aesthetic point of view. For example, the Onyx and diamond panther bracelet,
which lies sleekly over the wrist and its paw stretching out, conveys a
powerful sensuality. If the bracelet had been given to Wallis before the
abdication, it might have reflected the image of a sexual predator. By 1952,
the message was quite different. It could have conveyed that she had succeeded
in getting exactly what she wanted, to be with the duke despite opposition from
other members of the Royal family.
In
1948, the Duchess acquired the first of her panthers, a spotted gold and black
enamel beast aroused from its slumber and crouching on a vast cabochon
116-carat emerald, designed by Cartier for the duke, using his own emeralds, in
1948. This proved to be the initial example in a celebrated series of ‘great
cat’ jewels created by Cartier[25].
Another
iconic Cartier piece from Wallis’ jewellery collection, and the first of
Wallis’ collection of jungle jewels, is a diamond
a sapphire panther clip brooch[26] (1949) sitting on top of a Kashmir cabochon sapphire globe of 152.35 carats, designed by Wallis herself[27]. The Duchess reigns supreme at Cartier from
June 1950 to July 1953[28]. Sapphires
were the Duchess’ favourite jewels: She believed that they brought out the
colour of her eyes[29]. Wallis Simpson designed much of her own
jewellery at Cartier, and big cats were an omnipresent sight in her collection.
Wallis’ fascination with inhabitants of the natural world found expression in
decorative motifs scattered throughout her scheme of fashion, from dresses to
jewellery[30].
A fashion for animal skins has influenced Wallis’ taste long before Jeanne
Toussaint makes panther spots in sapphire or lays liger strips in onyx on
yellow diamonds.
After
her retirement into exile with the Duke of Windsor, this piece became one of
her favourite pieces[31]. Wallis died in 1986. Her magnificent collection was
auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1987. Cartier bought some of them 50 years after they
had been made; this was one of the pieces that they bought at this time.
Other cat jewels included an
unusual pair of lorgnettes, the handle designed as a tiger with a raised paw
which was purchased in 1954. A pair of
Cartier tiger jewels set with onyx and fancy yellow diamonds in the form of a
bracelet was acquired in 1956 and the matching tiger clip in 1959, paved with bright yellow brilliants and onyx on a
yellow-gold mount[32]. “This will be my
last fancy,” she said, “approved by Edward, who is so happy to give it to me[33].”
[1]
<http://www.zimbio.com/Jodie+Kidd/articles/16/Fashion+Fades+Style+Eternal+Yves+St+Laurent>
Fashion Fades Style is Eternal -Yves St Laurent by Ceri Heathcote on April 22,
2009
[2]
French fashion designer and one of the most celebrated and influential
designers of the last 20 years (1936-2008)
[3]
Edward abdicated the throne in 1936 after signing the Instrument of Abdication
on the 10th of December of the same year.
[4]<http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/wallis-simpsons-jewellery-god-save-the-bling-2146950.html#>
The Independent, Tuesday, 30 November 2012, Wallis
Simpson’s Jewellery: God save the bling
by Carola Long.
[5]
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/print-this/duchess -of windsor-style-1010?page=all
[6]
http://www.zimbio.com/Jodie+Kidd/articles/16/Fashion+Fades+Style+Eternal+Yves+St+Laurent
[7]
That
Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor written by Anne Sebba and published by
Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 2011
[8]
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/print-this/duchess -of windsor-style-1010?page=all
[9]
<
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/wallis-simpsons-jewellery-god-save-the-bling-2146950.html#>
[10]
The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes, pg. 152.
[11]
High jewellery director of Cartier and designer behind Cartier’s Great Cat
jewels, who was also known by Louis Cartier as Panthère.
[12]
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/01/wallis-simpson-bracelet-auction>
[13]
The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes page 164
[14]
The Windsor Style, pg. 164. http://www.zimbio.com/Jodie+Kidd/articles/16/Fashion+Fades+Style+Eternal+Yves+St+Laurent
[15]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/01/wallis-simpson-bracelet-auction
[16]
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/exceptional-jewels-and-precious-objects-formerly-in-the-collection-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-l10055/lot.19.lotnum.html
[17]
< http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/wallis-simpsons-jewellery-god-save-the-bling-2146950.html#>
[18]
http://.nytimes.com/1987/02/08/magazine/jewels-of-windsor.html?
pagewanted=all&src=pm
[19]
The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes,
Chapter 4, Objects of Desire, pg.151
[20]
Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor by John Culme and Nicholas Rayner page 197.
[21]
The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor by John Culme and Nicholas Rayner page 197.
[22]
http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/galaxy-of-stars-1.81009
[23]
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/exceptional-jewels-and-precious-objects-formerly-in-the-collection-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-l10055/lot.19.lotnum.html
[24]
http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/galaxy-of-stars-1.81009
[26]
Signed and numbered: Cartier Paris, 010166, one stone deficient. The following
weights are recorded in Cartier’s archives: Cabochon sapphire: 152:35 carats;
one hundres and six sapphires: 5 carats; brilliant-cut diamonds: 4:90 carats.
[28]
The Windsor style by Suzy Menkes, pg. 164.
[29]
http://.nytimes.com/1987/02/08/magazine/jewels-of-windsor.html?
pagewanted=all&src=pm
[30]
The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, John Culme and Nicholas Rayner, pg. 197.
[31]
http://theladyinwaiting.org/2012/03/09/wallis-simpsons-cartier-legacy-lives-on/
[32]
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/exceptional-jewels-and-precious-objects-formerly-in-the-collection-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-l10055/lot.19.lotnum.html
[33]
<http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/galaxy-of-stars-1.81009>Galaxy of stars - Sunday Life & Times
- New Straits Times
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