Cartier, ‘the jeweller of kings’, has come to the NGV in a blinding new show off

Based in Paris 179 years in the past, Cartier has fostered a mythical popularity because the writer of luxurious items for royalty, the aristocracy, movie stars, and the usually rich. The English king Edward VII famously referred to Cartier as “the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers”.

The glittering class of the Cartier taste throughout the ages has been introduced in combination in a big exhibition through London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, now being introduced on the Nationwide Gallery of Victoria.

An rapid hit

Curated over nearly a decade through the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Helen Molesworth, the Cartier display opened in London ultimate 12 months for a seven-month season and promptly bought out.

With nearly 350 pieces on show, it was once celebrated through many as one of the vital very best presentations of 2025. On the other hand, one grievance was once the exhibition was once too cramped, and the inevitable small scale of many of the items ended in a crowd overwhelm inside of darkened areas.

The NGV iteration of the exhibition, with nearly 400 pieces, items various alterations to the tick list of reveals, such because the inclusion of necklaces and bodice embellishes owned through Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. Melba was once an early shopper of the emblem, with Pierre Cartier amongst her fanatics.

Nellie Melba, her father, David Mitchell, and a tender woman (Nellie’s niece, Nellie Paterson), in Melbourne, Australia, 1903. Bain Information Provider, Writer.

Extra considerably, the NGV has collaborated with the world over famend designers to reimagine the exhibition, following in a convention it has established for itself over a number of years.

The gallery has collaborated with Studio Sabine Marcelis and CLOUD, two multidisciplinary design practices founded in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands.

Marcelis inspires the Cartier color palette in her design, whilst CLOUD has constructed at the Cartier geometric bureaucracy to create light-filled architectural constructions which might be concerned about an artistic discussion with the jewelry.

A thumbnail comic strip of Cartier’s taste

The thumbnail comic strip of the improvement of the Cartier taste is necessary for figuring out the exhibition.

Louis-François Cartier based the company in Paris in 1847, and in 1874 handed it to his son Alfred. It was once Alfred’s 3 sons – Louis, Pierre and Jacques – who internationalised the emblem and made it right into a powerhouse of style design, with places of work in Paris, London, New York and St Petersburg.

Louis embraced orientalist Artwork Deco designs and vibrant “Tutti Frutti” jewel combos. He additionally pioneered wristwatch designs and exploited platinum as a structural base for elaborate diamond and gemstone settings within the jewelry.

Pierre prolonged operations to New York, whilst Jacques evolved operations in New Bond Side road in London.

Alfred Cartier (2d from proper) along with his 3 sons (left to proper), Pierre, Louis and Jacques, 1922, Archives Cartier Paris © Cartier.

It’s tricky to outline the Cartier design, but slightly easy to recognise it while you stumble upon it.

Writing within the NGV Cartier catalogue, Vivienne Becker, a prolific London-based jewelry historian, arrives at a resounding characterisation. She writes that the way:

is underpinned through tradition, through an ever-evolving quest to infuse jewelry design with originality, creative integrity and cultural richness.

As one makes their means across the exhibition, there may be consistent stumble upon with types from the previous – together with Egyptian, Chinese language, Jap, Iranian and Islamic components – informing using diamonds and different treasured fabrics.

A who’s-who listing of purchasers

Cartier additionally has its repertoire of signature motifs, akin to the enduring Panthère, which might seem as a panther clip brooch, or snakes and crocodiles that may take the kinds of necklaces and bracelets.

The exhibition contains most of the logo’s signature animal motifs.
Joel Carrett

As jewellers and watchmakers, Cartier was once referred to as the “watchmaker of shapes” – exploiting squares, rectangles and octagons, slightly than the standard circle.

Whilst celebrating a very best magnificence, many of the pieces on show have the facility to marvel, akin to a impressive scarab brooch, or a 1933 brooch with a large floating amethyst set towards sapphires, diamonds and platinum.

Brooch, Cartier London, 1933. Amethyst, sapphires, diamonds and platinum. Cartier Assortment, Vincent Wulveryck, Cartier Assortment © Cartier.

A spotlight of the exhibition is the show of greater than 20 shocking tiaras. Those are symbols of royalty and glamour, with connotations of celestial halos, laurel wreaths and garlands.

Those tiaras were worn through a who’s who of celebrities. As an example, one scroll tiara (1902) was once worn through Clementine Churchill on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and once more in 2016 through the singer Rihanna, at the duvet of W mag.

There could also be the Solar tiara of 1907, with a 32-carat cognac-yellow diamond at its core, and the Artwork Deco diamond and platinum Halo tiara of 1934, which was once impressed through historic Egypt and owned through Begum Aga Khan III.

Family names who’ve worn the Cartier jewelry provide on this exhibition come with Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Rihanna, Princess Margaret, The Duchess of Windsor, Dame Nellie Melba, the Maharaja of Patiala, Begum Aga Khan III and American heiress Barbara Hutton. Those will end up a selfie magnet for lots of guests.

Princess Margaret dressed in the Cartier rose clip brooch, 1955. {Photograph} through Cecil.
Beaton Cartier Assortment, Vincent Wulveryck, Cartier Assortment © Cartier

Whilst this isn’t the primary primary Cartier exhibition in Australia (there was once a large display in Canberra in 2018), it’s the biggest, containing nearly 300 pieces by no means prior to now observed in Australia. It is usually probably the most leading edge in its show.

Cartier continues to resonate with its audiences through going past mere presentations of ostentatious wealth; it faucets into historic cultures and traditions, making them fashionable and related to recent audiences.

There’s a complete catalogue of luminaries and family names of wearers of the Cartier jewelry provide on this exhibition.
Joel Carrett

Cartier is appearing on the Nationwide Gallery of Victoria from June 12 to October 4.