Cartier : Beautés Du Monde Haute Joaillerie Et Objets Précieux

At the turn of the 20th century, Louis Cartier launched a new style that was both distinctive and universal: it was part of a reinvented classical tradition, as well as a spirit of openness and curiosity for all forms of beauty. A great art lover and collector, he regenerated French jewellery by opening it to the splendours of traditional Russian, Islamic and Asian aesthetics. All of Cartier's "art of the elsewhere" contributed to a remarkable aesthetic dialogue that continues to this day.

For this book, Cartier's designers wanted to echo the splendours of distant cultures and the wonders of nature, by bringing together in a contemporary fashion a set of jewels in the spirit of the cabinets of curiosities: a tale of coral snaking along a flamboyant necklace, the skin of an iguana transformed into a geometric matrix, a Chinese puzzle revealing a kaleidoscopic ring, among others.