attributed to Cartier

Cf.: Thérèse Burollet, Paul Claudel, Gilles Chazal (eds.), The Art of Cartier, Musée du Petit Palais, Octobre 20, 1989 - January 28, 1990, Paris Musées, 1989, pg. 127 or an illustration of a sketch of a similar design.

Cf.: Judy Rudoe, Cartier 1900 - 1939, British Museum Press, 1997, pg. 47 for an illustration of a plaster cast of a similar design.

Since Antiquity wheat has long been associated with the renewal and nourishing abundance that nature can offer. It was the symbol of the Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest, Demeter (called Ceres by the Romans) and inspired the jewels of the Napoleonic court in the early 1800s, which sought to revive Ancient emblems. In the second half of the 19th century the taste for Antiquity experienced a second wave, giving the motif a new life in the hands of jewellers like Castellani in Rome or Massin in Paris. It was then thanks to the development of platinum jewellery in the early 1900s that allowed Cartier to design wheat sheafs with a lightness and naturalism that only this new metal could provide. As if carried away by the wind, these wheat ears delicately bend and give the appearance of a bejewelled still life. The Cartier archives, rich in documentation on their past creations, reveal a model very close to this tiara. Dated 1909 for the sketch and between 1906-1914 for the plaster, allows us to date this jewel to circa 1910. Two additional sheafs were featured in the plaster mold which leads us to believe this tiara has been altered since its original creation.