Beschreibung:

AN EXQUISITE BELLE EPOQUE DIAMOND PANEL BROOCH, CARTIER The single and old European-cut diamond openwork hinged panel enhanced by larger old European-cut diamonds, the center diamond measuring approximately 8.00 x 4.80 mm, mounted in platinum, with French hallmarks, circa 1913 Signed by Cartier, Paris, No. 1560 Cartier catered to an elite clientele, making jewelry for queens and "would-be" queens around the world. Although America had no established royalty, towards the end of the nineteenth century several business magnates amassed such large fortunes that by the sheer size of their estates, they became a sort of aristocracy. One family which established itself as such was the Vanderbilts. The patriarch of the family, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, made his great wealth in railroads which, after his death in 1877, was spent in graduating proportions by his descendants. Each succeeding generation became a force within society, building lavish mansions in New York and Newport, sailing aboard luxuriant yachts and entertaining on a grand scale. But it was Grace Wilson, the wife of the Commodore's great grandson, Cornelius III (named after the patriarch), who became the "queen" of society after the death of Mrs. Astor in 1906. Social columnists referred to her as "Her Grace," alluding to her name, her position in American society as well as her socializing with royalty around the world. To play the part of royalty, one must look the part. Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned several important pieces of jewelry at Cartier, including a diamond necklace suspending three hexagonal diamond pendants with circular and pear-shaped drop pendants, illustrated on pages 47 and 51 in Hans Nadelhoffer's, "Cartier, Jewelers Extraordinary". In 1919, she purchased the illustrated panel brooch, originally a detachable brooch from a pendant necklace.