It is a name that requires no introduction. No titles are necessary, no descriptives needed. The name of Cartier alone evokes the milieu in which it reigns supreme, its bejewelled creations having adorned personages of privilege and power for nearly a century and a half. Its history is a chronicle of the modern age, its explorations into its art remain signposts of innovation.

A genius for originality has been embellished by the application of impeccable taste throughout the many generations of Cartier's existence. It was in 1917, when twenty-eight year old jeweller Louis Francois Cartier purchased the premises of his employer on Paris' Rue Montgueil and hung out his own shingle, that the legend of Cartier was born.
Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie presided over this 'Second Empire' with its large court and wealthy haute societe and a culture that looked fondly back to the Ancien Regime for guidance. The completion of the Louvre created a strong interest in the Renaissance whilst the Empress' admiration for her predecessor, Marie-Antoinette, determined the fashion for the style of Louis XVI. A purchase by the city's School of Fine Art heralded a revival of Greek, Etruscan and Roman jewellery whilst the Suez Canal project once again brought Egyptian culture into vogue. A burgeoning railway system made Paris an international destination and the Expositions Universelles of 1855 and 1867 celebrated its achievements.

As an essential element of this cosmopolitan society, jewellery also sought its inspiration in the classical longings of the period. The designs of Louis-Francois Cartier were on display in the more fashionable Boulevard des ltaliens and were glimpsed by the Emperor's cousin, Princess Mathilde, who introduced the jeweller's work to the Empress herself. By 1898, Cartier had become the 'Jeweller of Kings and King of Jewellers' with no less than seventeen Royal warrants and catering certificates; from the twenty-seven diadems created for the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 to the lavish requirements of the Courts of Russia, of Spain and Portugal, of Greece and Belgium, of Siam. Of equal splendour were the creations for the American dynasties - the Goulds, the Rockfellers, the Vanderbilts - and for an equally impressive list of South American millionaires.

lf the fates smiled on Cartier,they were less benevolent to the Empire that crumbled in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian wars to be replaced by the Third Republic. Louis Francois was also eventually replaced by his only son, who had entered the business with him, and it was Alfred who consolidated the Cartier legacy with an expertise in both precious stones and matters of business.

Visiting the Cartier showrooms, aristocracy now nudged shoulders with an increasing number of bankers and industralists of all nationalities. The displays reflected the diverging tastes and fortunes of the broadening clientele with an eclectic selection of merchandise. Bronze sculptures and ivory statuettes rested alongside polished snuff boxes and flasks and a host of elegant clocks and pocket-watches, in addition to the requisite bejewelled gold and silver trinkets, earrings, brooches and bracelets, headdresses and necklaces, all of which were widely regarded for the excellence of their stones, the elegance of their discreet mounts d above all, their superb craftsmanship.

As the new century dawned to give birth to the modern era, a new generation of the Cartier family were preparing to guide the company into its own new era. Like his younger brothers Pierre and Jacques, Louis Cartier was the recipient of a cultured education and a refined sense of tase. In 1898 he became his father's partner and married the granddaughter of the legendary couturier, Charles Frederic Worth, cementing a relationship both personal and professional between the two families that began three generations earlier.

Sensitive to the changing fashions, Louis Cartier again changed addresses, relocating a few doors from the Worth atelier at 13 Rue de la Paix. Sensitive also to the revolution sweeping the arts, Cartier began to reject the eclectecism of the past century in favour of the emerging influences of motifs in nature and the abstract representations of Oriental art. The new thinking, which was to find expression in the works of such artists as Pablo Picasso and Serge de Diaghilev, Erik Satie and Walter Gropius, denounced an overwhelming emphasis on precious stones in jewellery in favour of the originality of the design and a liberating use of materials. As early as 1895, Louis had forsaken the use of corrosive silver in jewellery mounts for platinum, which also enabled less clustered settings, and as far back as 1888 had conceived the wrist-watch.

A newstyle of jewellery was indeed emerging and was identified at the Exposition of 1900 as 'modern style' or'Art Nouveau'. These new directions were evidenced in Cartier's exhibited pieces which showed the influence of the Orient and a particular fascination with the mystique of the Indian subcontinent, which presented a lush, vibrant-hued exotic tapestry, woven into a timeless and irresistible picture that captured the imagination of the West.

Whilst Cartier created his first Indian style jewellery in 1900, Poiret designed his first Indian turbans in 1910 and Diaghilev honoured the Hindu god Krishna with the staging of 'The Blue God'. That same year, continuing Cartier's fascination with the country, Jeanne Toussaint, the famed 'la panthere' who inspired Louis Cartier's earliest panther jewellery, revived a preference for yellow gold, a metal the Indians consider sacred.

Toussaint was to become Director of Luxury Jewellery in 1933, creating a line of jewellery which highlighted gold and coloured gems, the trend-setting 'animalist' pieces of jewellery and perhaps most notoriously, the caged bird brooches that symbolised the Germans' occupation of France during the Second World War and the bird of liberty that was created upon the nation's liberation.

For the present time, however, Louis Cartier's own genius continued to guide the company. Cartier restored the great clockmaking traditions that had been lost for more than a century. He closely supervised the creation of timepieces that were each works of singular beauty, originality and technical perfection. Amongst these highlyprized clocks, sought by earnest collectors such as Prince Radziwill, the Maharajah of Patalia and King Edward VII, were 'comet' and 'planet' clocks, their case decorations reminiscent of Middle Eastern jewellery, their inspiration from the heavens; Chinese clocks with dragon hands, iridescent blue Egyptian temple clocks and a series of 'mystery clocks', their mechanisms concealed and their dials of transparent or opaque materials.

On a less grandiose scale, Cartier designed what is considered the first modern wristwatch for his friend, the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. The 'Santos' watch, created in 1904 and still in production, was an elegant essay in platinum and leather. The technical excellence and understated simplicity of the 'Santos' heralded the creation of what is arguably the company's most famous timepiece, the 'Tank L.C.' whose soft Deco lines were, ironically, inspired by the sighting of a combat tank in 1917. The 'Vendome' watch, with its unusual harness-like bar, was conceived during a carriage ride Louis Cartier shared with Ernest Hemingway, when the jeweller noticed the attachment that linked the shaft to the vehicle. For the Pasha of Marrakesh, a solid gold waterproof watch was made, to be used in the swimming pool.

As the innovations continued, so too did the preference for Cartier which had already led to the opening of Cartier showrooms in both London, presided over by Jacques, and New York, under the direction of Pierre. Typically, both stores relocated after a time, the New York boutique moving into a converted former private home which was purchased for a double necklace of fine pearls; Cartier of course!

The,cycle of war and peace dominated the early part of the Twentieth century, altering expectations as it did so. La Belle Epoque was replaced by the austerity and gravity of World War I, which in turn gave way to the frivolity of the Roaring Twenties where 'garconnes' celebrated their newly found emancipation with new demands in both clothing and jewellery. Watches were increasingly worn on the wrist as a symbol of professional life and cigarette holders were 'a la mode'. Jeanne Toussaint established a department of Cartier accessories, featuring writing papers, leather goods and accessories for the application of make-up. Cartier met the changing times with characteristic style, adapting its skills as necessitated and producing more unusual items, from the customised Field Marshall's baton presented to General Foch at the end of World War 1 and a fantastic collection of ceremonial swords for Oriental potentates to the symbolic swords awarded to members of the French Academy, one of which was designed by its recipient Jean Cocteau who turned the 'weapon' into a visual narrative of his beloved Orpheus legend.

The cycle was to repeat itself on a granderand far more ominous scale when the Twenties made way for the Thirties with their Great Depression and the Forties with their gruesome spectre of war. Whilst the Cartier empire survived these tragic times, Louis and his
brother Jacques did not, both dying only a few months apart in 1942.

Cartier entered its fourth generation before joining the corporate world, exchanging hands several times until, in 1972, Robert Hocq, creator of Cartier's famous cigarette lighter in 1968, became President of Cartier Paris and tempered its entrenched sense of tradition with a modern youthful spirit that led to the'Must de Cartier' range and consequent global expansion of Cartier through its 'Must' boutiques. By 1976, Hocq was in charge of the Paris, London and New York Cartier stores until his own untimely death in 1979, when his assistant in the'Must'project, Alain Perrin, was appointed President of Cartier International.

Continuing its twin edged commitment to a certain classicism and an ongoing pursuit of the modern, Cartier is more recently reviving its own influences. Innovatively interpreting the colours, materials and desigqs that inspired Louis Cartier many decades ago, the designers of Cartier have again turned to the breathtaking beauty of India to create the 'Indes Gallantes' collection of jewellery. Chains, necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings evoke the essence of this mystical culture whilst proclaiming their existence as resolutely contemporary creations from one of the world's most respected names in jewellery.

The world of exotic colours that captivated the people of the Victorian era has itself been distilled in this'post-modern'collection. With a wealth of precious, semi-precious and hard stones available in a vast spectrum of colours and materials, Indian jewellery introduced the West to an array of unusual and original bejewelled combinations in the early part of this century and the Cartier pieces reflect this tradition with such combinations as luminous green agate with delicate pink coral, ti e novelty of grey haematite embellished with rubies and blue and yellow sapphires or orange coloured agate contrasted with the dramatic black of polished onyx.
Motifs, too, have been inspired by the marble friezes of Mogul palaces or the patterns of indo-Persian miniatures, the necklaces worn by Maharajas with row upon row covering the entire chest or traditional Indian turban ornaments.
The East with its sense of timelessness and adventures has also been the inspiration for Cartier's Pasha collection of wristwatches and writing instruments. Distant lands and long desert caravans are conjured up by the Pashas and the Pasha watches display the same strength and durability as these military men.

Waterproof and guarded from the elements by a removably protective shield, they may well have been designed for a military campaign or desert expedition, yet their modern steel styling and technological sophistication defines them at once as a modern accessory and piece of jewellery. Similar style and sophistication combine to make the handsome Pasha pen, with its fluted body of highly polished mosaic patterned lacquer or engraved gold or silver, a -timeless accessory. With its hand finished gold nib, the Pasha pen evokes a leisurely era of hand-written letters and documents. At the same time, its functional excellence prestigiously announces its relevance to modern writing

Striving to create ever more precious objects of great beauty and craftsmanship, Cartier is equally concerned with the cultural life it is so firmly a part of. In 1984, under Monsieur Perrin's direction, the company created the'Foundation Cartier', dedicated to contemporary art and the support of living artists. The Foundation enables Cartier to pay homage to kindred creative spirits who; like Cartier, pursue their respective muse.

Like the dynasties for whom Cartier has created its intricate art, the creative muse of Cartier has reigned over the world of jewellery for many generations, enticing the jewellers' hands to produce lyrical masterpieces. When Jean Cocteau, in 1955, chose to design his own Sword of the Academy he became, however briefly, a jeweller. At Cartier, in the hands of its most gifted sons, jewellery took on the dimensions of poetry.