Beautés du Monde by Cartier: the latest high jewellery chapter

By Kim Parker

From prowling panthers and feathered flamingoes to palm trees and tropical fish, Cartier has always drawn inspiration from the forms of the natural world. Last summer the venerable Maison took to Madrid to reveal Beautés du Monde, its high jewellery collection dedicated to the splendour of nature as a whole, with stylised forms evoking everything from the delicacy of floating water lilies to the shifting scales of a snake in diamonds and gemstones. Now, the Parisian jeweller has launched the next chapter of this high jewellery tale during Couture week, adding yet more glittering beasts to its precious menagerie.

“Always striving to enchant the senses, we transcribe the richness of cultures, landscapes, fauna and flora with a contemporary outlook,” says creative director, Jacqueline Karachi. “Each collection represents an opportunity to reveal a new and distinctive aspect of the Cartier style – a unique, multi-faceted style.”

A flexible cascade of pink spinel beads, adorned with a further 27.79 carats of oval and pear-cut spinels, forms the new Splendens necklace, designed after the gauzy fins of a magnificent fighting fish. Dotted throughout the supple lattice, square and lozenge-shaped diamonds add a shimmering, watery glow, like highlights reflected on a fish’s scales.

Another necklace, the Camail, is an even more abstract interpretation – this time of a bird’s plumage, with a rhythmic line of five eye-catching pear-cut Zambian emeralds nestled within subtle arcs of diamonds and trimmed with slivers of jet-black onyx (the repetitive pattern of green, white and black is something of a house speciality, having first appeared in its creations around 1910). One further feathery necklace, named Ocelle, uses a palette of blue, green and white in a tribute to a peacock’s magnificent train. It highlights the mesmeric beauty of two iridescent blue-green opals (weighing 16.59 and 6.19 carats respectively) with a glorious 21.18 carat Zambian emerald, surrounded by diamonds and onyx set into tessellating, feather-like shapes.

And from the natural, to the material. One final necklace, called the Obi, derives inspiration from the beauty of Japanese fabrics, rather than any creature. Its repeating ‘rising sun’ motif is composed of eight perfectly matched cabochon-cut emeralds, set within radiating rows of white diamonds, punctuated by rubies and edged with custom-cut triangles of onyx. The pendant motif, with its 12.53-carat emerald, also detaches to become a brooch.

It’s a testament to Cartier’s savoir-faire that themes as diverse as feathers, fish and fabric can be translated into a coherent and contemporary collection of precious wonders, adorned with motifs and colourways that have been a part of the Maison’s signature style from its earliest days. This is what Cartier does best. And it does it with tremendous style.

Like this? Discover the new Skylines high jewellery collection by David Morris.