I mportant Jewels will be open for bidding from 29 April–12 May, offering a broad selection of jewelry dating from the 19th century through to the present day and featuring spectacular jewels from the world’s most renowned jewelry houses, such as Cartier, Bulgari, Suzanne Belperron, René Boivin and Harry Winston.
The First World War put a dramatic end to the frivolous, light-hearted spirit of the Belle Epoque and to its extravagant excesses in the fields of dress, fashion and jewellery. Cartier, always perceptive to changes in fashion, was able to foresee well before political events dramatically changed the world during four years of conflict, that women were ready to revolutionise the way they dressed, adorned themselves and behaved in society.
During the first decade of the 20th century, Cartier had already started to trace the lines of the jewellery style which would favor the dynamic and emancipated women of the 1920s and suit their short tunic dresses and hairstyles à la garçonne. This change was triggered by the contemporary experiences of Cubist painters and certainly influenced by the Vienna Secessionist artists such as Klimt, Hoffmann and Olbrich, who promoted the evolution of the style for painting, architecture and interior decoration based on squares and circles.
Jewels gradually lost their original delicate lightness to assume a solid rigidity, foreshadowing the development in jewellery design which, after the war, would fully embrace the tenets of what is known as Art Deco.
While "alternative engagement rings" have become ever more popular with today's unconventional brides-to-be, choosing colour gemstones is not exactly a new idea. Colour diamonds and other gemstones can also add an element of glamour and uniqueness. Whether it's Princess Diana’s oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded with a halo of solitaire diamonds or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s duo of diamond and emerald flanked by tapered baguettes, famous engagement rings display the individuality of each wearer, all telling fascinating stories.
Exceptional contemporary jewels demonstrate the continuing mastery and creativity of modern-day diamond cutters and master jewellers. From Hemmerle and Graff to Michele della Valle and David Webb, these houses are both widely recognised as some of the most talented jewellers of the modern day.
