Cartier Panthère | Assouline

Silently stalking its way through Cartier iconography for a century, the panther is the proud leader of the pack of precious animals that make up the famous Cartier menagerie. No other creature or jewel is quite so indissolubly and emotively connected to outstanding 20th-century women of style, to ideals of modern femininity, and has become Cartier’s most iconic motif for a century. A symbol of power, seduction, and triumph since ancient times, the image of the panther never fails to arouse fantasies and dreams. Featuring texts by art historian Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter, jewelry historian Vivienne Becker, jewelry expert Joanna Hardy, and fashion editor André Leon Talley, Cartier Panthère chronicles the panther in art history, the evolution of Cartier panther jewels, the techniques involved in creating a Cartier panther jewel, the influence of the panther in fashion, design, and popular culture, and includes a chronology of 100 years of Cartier panther jewels. THE PANTHER IN ART. Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter, regularly contributes to art magazines including Beaux-Arts, L’Œil, L’Objet d’art, Le Journal des Arts. She has published numerous books and she curated the exhibition Voyage dans ma tête, la collection de coiffes ethniques d’Antoine de Galbert, at the Maison Rouge in Paris in 2010. With Assouline she has published many books, including Ethnic Style (2001), the two-volume Primal Arts (2005–06), and most recently Van Cleef & Arpels (2014). EVOLUTION OF THE CARTIER PANTHER. Vivienne Becker is a contributing editor to Financial Times’s How to Spend It magazine, writes for newspapers and magazines around the world, and lectures and broadcasts on her subject. She organized and wrote the catalog for the first major exhibition of the jewelry of René Lalique, and curated Jewels of Fantasy, a traveling exhibition of 20th century costume jewelry. Becker’s previous books for Assouline include The Impossible Collection of Jewelry (2012), and Se