

A RARE CARTIER JEWEL FROM A FAMILY COLLECTION INHERITED FROM MRS. JOHN C. WILSON, NEE PRINCESS NATALIE PALEY, FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF MRS. COLE PORTER
Cartier, Jewelers Extraordinary, Hans Nadelhoffer, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, Publishers, 1984, plate 16, page 32.
Cartier 1900-1939, Judy Rudoe, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997, page 14 and plate 251, page 305.
The sketch of the belt buckle is from the Stock Design Record Book, 1926, page 53, Cartier archive, Paris.
Ancient faience is a manufactured material created to imitate the bright colors and gloss of precious stones. It was used in jewelry throughout Egypt and the Near East beginning about 5500 years ago. It was made by grinding quartz or sand crystals and mixing them with various levels of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and/or copper creating colors including turquoise, cobalt blue, purple and yellow and was shaped into such forms as amulets, beads, and scarabs. Faience is considered one of the earliest forms of glass making.