A ROSE QUARTZ SCENT BOTTLE

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

Details

A ROSE QUARTZ SCENT BOTTLE
The circular rose quartz bottle with a guilloché enamel cylindrical stopper enhanced by small rose-cut diamonds and seed pearls, circa 1909, with French assay mark for gold
By Cartier

Provenance

Pierre Cartier (1887-1965)
Pierre together, with his two brothers Louis and Jacques were the grandsons of Louis-François Cartier, founder of Cartier in Paris in 1847 and all three were instrumental in establishing the famous worldwide empire. Pierre was the born businessman and would probably have succeeded in any type of business. Following the family tradition, he opened the firm's New York branch in 1909. In 1917, it was then moved to its current location at 653 Fifth Avenue. Pierre was married to Elma Rumsey, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist from St. Louis; a union which opened him various doors to the leading families in America. He ran this branch of the New World successfully with the help of Jules Glaenzer, son of an antique dealer who was in charge of the Fifth Avenue branch. He widely entertained Hollywood artists to dinner and vastly contributed to Cartier's image in America.
Shortly after the death of his two brothers in 1942, and after passing the New York branch over to his nephew Claude, the son of his brother Louis, Pierre Cartier moved back to Europe to head Cartier in Paris until his death in 1965.

It is also interesting to note that Christie's New York, on 11 April 2001, offered for sale a collection of jewellery from Marion Rumsey Cartier, Pierre's daughter.

This collection included several exceptional precious stones and personal belongings the proceeds of which were donated to St. Louis University. The objects offered in this sale, lots 495, 496 and 497, also formerly belonged at one point to Marion Rumsey Cartier. University. The proceeds from the New York sale were used as endowments for the preservation of her collection and other valuable projects. The objects offered in this sale (lot 496 and 497) illustrated on the opposite page also formerly belonged at one point to Marion Rumsey Cartier.

Lot Essay

Cf. Habsburg Feldman, "The Art of Cartier", Geneva, 1988, page 23, lot 28
Cf. "L'Art de Cartier", Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 1989-1990, page 130, lot 187

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