L-R: Queen Alexandra of England wearing the Cartier Collier Résille necklace. The Maharaja Bhupinder Singh wearing the Cartier Patiala Necklace. The brothers Cartier with their father Alfred. American Singer-sewing machine heiress Daisy Fellows wearing her 'Collier Hindou' one of the most famous Tutti Frutti creations.
Let’s take an indepth look at a fabulous piece in our next Fine Jewellery & Watches sale on June 5/6th.
An Art Deco Diamond & Emerald 'Tutti Frutti' clip by Cartier.
In this blog we’d like to explore two very interesting aspects: its maker, Cartier, and its previous owner, Veronica Belloc Lowndes.
By the 1920s the House of Cartier was already well established as one of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world. They were jewellers to European royalty, American industrialists, English aristocracy and Indian maharajas. Their global domination was firmly established by the third generation of Cartiers, the brothers Louis, Pierre and Jacques.
Since the Delhi Durbar in 1911, Jacques Cartier had been visiting the Indian subcontinent, always travelling in his chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce which he had shipped over especially. He met with princes and maharajas, buying the most sumptuous, exotic gemstones to be brought home and set by Cartier’s workshops in London, Paris and New York.
He found these trips enormously inspiring and they lead to the Cartier designs we know today as Tutti-Frutti. Using carved gemstones Jacques had brought back from the East, this range combined the exotic with the modern and was an instant hit among the trendsetters of the day.
L-R: The future Princess Grace of Monaco wearing Cartier engagement jewels. The Cartier 'Hindou Collier' made in the 1930s for American heiress Daisy Fellowes. Elizabeth Taylor wearing the 'Taylor-Burton' diamond, a remarkable 69 carat, pear-shaped diamond, purchased from Cartier and mounted on a necklace of smaller pear-shaped diamonds by Cartier. A modern Tutti Frutti masterpiece, the 'Rajasthan Necklace', created by Cartier in 2016.
The brightly colored Indian-style jewels of the 1920s and 30s weren’t given the “Tutti Frutti” name until the 1970s. Back then, they were known simply as ‘pierres de couleur’, coloured stones or Hindou jewels.
Today Tutti-Frutti jewels are considered some of the most sought-after and collectible jewels in the world. It is a style that that has proved hugely influential in the jewellery world and is still made by Cartier today.
This gorgeous diamond and emerald Tutti-Frutti clip in our next Fine Jewellery sale probably dates from the 1930s. It belonged to a beautiful woman, Veronica Belloc Lowndes.
In the 1960s Veronica married John Elliott, then the managing director of Tatler magazine. They were one of The ‘IT’ couples of swinging London, regularly mixing with the likes of Shirley Bassey, Joannna Lumley and the Aga Khan. Living just off the Kings Rd, they knew Everybody, were invited Everywhere because simply Anyone who was Anyone wanted to be in Tatler Magazine!
L-R: Veronica Belloc Lowndes, with her first daughter, from the pages of Tatler, 1969.
A Tatler cover from 1969, featuring Veronica's friend Lady Sarah Crichton-Stuart, prior to her marriage to the Aga Khan. Veronica & Johhny in 1963.
In spite of this glamorous lifestyle, Veronica came from seriously illustrious literary origins, she was the granddaughter of the pioneering English novelist Marie Belloc Lowndes. Not a household name today, but Marie was a prolific writer of some 70 works, her novels drawing inspiration from historical criminal cases, and uniquely focused on the psychological motivations behind the crime. Marie's most famous work, The Lodger, about Jack the Ripper, was published in 1913 and subsequently made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1927. It brought her considerable fame and she was one of the best-selling novelists of her day.
Marie was also the granddaughter of the French painter Jean Hilaire Belloc, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen. Her younger brother was the well-known novelist and poet Hilaire Belloc. So young Veronica had some remarkable relations indeed!
L-R: The novelist and poet Hilaire Belloc, Veronica's great uncle. An early cover of Marie Belloc Lowndes most famous novel, The Lodger. A portrait of Marie, Veronica's grandmother. Joseph Priestly, the discoverer of oxygen, and Veronica's great-great-great grandfather.
Jumping back to the more recent past, Veronica’s husband Johnny might have been a bit of a rogue. The Elliotts lived around the corner from Lord Lucan, Johnny hung out at Aspinall’s, and he counted the Lucans as friends. However, Johnny Elliott certainly knew how to buy a good present, and in 1971, to celebrate the birth of their second daughter, Johnny gifted Veronica this fabulous emerald and diamond Tutti-Frutti Cartier clip.
It is a saturated, vivid green carved emerald, nestling amongst a dazzling array of Old European round-cut brilliant white diamonds, all set in platinum. The clip is hinged to be worn on a lapel or collar and is the height of tasteful elegance combined with top quality workmanship.
Purchased directly from Cartier’s flagship store on New Bond Street, it is sumptuously presented in its Cartier gold tooled, red leather case. It is a delightful art deco piece from the 1920s or 30s, and with it's vivid and veluptuous, fruit-shaped carved emerald, it employs one of the most classic and enduring motifs of Cartier's Tutti-Frutti range.
Tutti Frutti jewels are at the pinnacle of style, and are so highly valued by jewellery collectors that even tiny brooches in small auctions draw both worldwide interest and bidders. The distinctive style, with its combination of colours and materials, makes these jewels both objects of wonder as well as a vital part of the history of jewellery. They are lavish displays of Cartier’s most emblematic motifs and a lasting symbol of the firm’s ingenuity in design, exploratory spirit and exemplary craftsmanship.
Whoever becomes the next owner of this gorgeous piece, will be a lucky person indeed.
In the same Fine Jewellery & Watches Sale (June 5/6th) we have an elegant ladies Santos wristwatch by Cartier (below) that also belonged to Veronica Belloc Lowndes.
If you have fine jewellery or treasures with an interesting history, get in touch with Lay’s Auctioneers for a free appraisal. We’d love to hear about them. Email our expert Carl Nielson here
Let’s finish with a few words from Marie Belloc Lowdnes, Veronica’s grandmother. As a successful writer of the day, she moved in influential social circles.
In a diary entry from June 1939, Marie wrote: ‘
I lunched at Margot’s today and sat next to Jacques Cartier, the great jeweller. He is an agreeable man. Speaks perfect English and his wife, with whom I made friends some years ago, comes of a great banking family. I thought her one of the nicest women I ever met.’
View the catalogue entry for the Tutti Frutti clip
Click here to view a preview of the June 5/6th Fine Jewellery & Watches Sale, and set a reminder
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