Paris (3) - The Duchess of Windsor's Cartier and The Big Cats

Of course Cartier are world famous for the jewels they created and which were worn by The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson.  I had previously seen the Flamingo Brooch when it was last up for sale at Sothebys in London a couple of years ago.  I was lucky too to find a copy of the original sale catalogue for the auction of the Duchess' jewels after she died thanks to eBbay or Amazon!  Anyway as the Flamingo appeared at the Paris show it is possible that it has been bought back by Cartier.  Whoever owns the piece it is a fabulous creation!

The Duchess of Windsor's Flamingo Brooch

A stunning amethyst and turquoise necklace 

owned by the DoW

The window of jewels owned by the DoW.

The very last window in the show was the 
famous leopard brooch belonging to 
the DoW it was amazing!

I am showing lots of photos from different 
angles because what looks small from the 
front is really quite huge from the side!  
The cabochon sapphire was bigger than 
a quails egg!  I last saw this brooch in 
Cartier's shop window in New York several 
years ago.

The cat has yellow eyes.

Here you can see well the size of the 
blue sapphire.

A better view of the window for the DoW 
complete with design drawings for the 
jewels on display.

Moving on another famous lady was
Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth's heiress.  
Here you can see her comb, a ring, handbag 
(with cat clasps) and cat earrings and brooch.

A close up of the cat brooch owned by 
Barbara Hutton.

The actress Maria Felix had some stunning 
pieces in the form of reptiles!

Maria Felix's amazing diamond snake 
necklace!

Other pieces on show and not attributed 
to any person was a typical big cat bangle

A big cat bracelet.

A beautiful big cat pin.

And amongst the chinoiserie I loved this 
enameled panther box.  The detail in 
the work was incredible right across 
the whole exhibition.

Paris (2) - Tiaras and Princess Grace's Jewels

Some more of the tiaras that were on display are shown below:-

This tiara was the the one on the posters and 
the book covers for the exhibition catalogues - 
it is I believe a mourning tiara as it has the 
black jet inlay.

I loved this glorious flapper era tiara like 
a sun ray and eye shaped central motif 
which was set "en tremblant" so it shakes 
as the wearer moves adding to the glitz!

A beautiful art deco style diamond tiara.

The Cartier Halo Scroll Tiara as worn by
Catherine Duchess of Cambridge at her 
wedding to Price William in 2011.

A diamond bandeau/tiara with carved 
emerald central motif.

2 tiaras showing different uses of gemstones - 
possibly citrine on the left and aquamarine or 
blue topaz on the right

This tiara featured in the Grace Kelly window 
and was worn by Princess Caroline as well.
Diamonds and pearls.

Some of Princess Grace's fun animal 
brooches for which she was known.

And some more of Grace's brooches - 
I adore the hen sitting on her nest of 
eggs - cute!

Diamonds rubies - I think theses are 
clips/brooches belonging to Grace de Monaco.

A diamond bracelet and Princess Grace's 
huge diamond engagement ring.

A close up of the engagement ring.

Princess Grace's 3 strand Cartier 
diamond necklace.

The window dedicated to Princess Grace's 
Cartier items.

Paris (1)

OMG it's been a busy few weeks visiting both Paris and Venice and tomorrow I head off to London (yes you guessed more ballet).   I need to try and catch you all up on things so I will give it a go!  
OK let's start with a look at Paris -

My plane arriving to take me to Paris.

Bill Board outside the Grand Palais

  

I went to see the WONDERFUL Cartier Le Style et L'Histoire Exhibition at the Grand Palais - and also I was able to catch a performance of the ballet Onegin at the Opera Garnier - more of that later.

I made the very wise decision to buy 2 tickets to see Cartier on separate days - it was the right decision - there was so much to see and take in it was rather overwhelming so a chance to see it all again the next day was great because my brain could absorb what I saw the first day and compute it all and then I knew what I wanted to see again.  Do you ever get that fuzzy head feeling when you go to exhibitions or is just me?  I just can't take in what the label or audio guides are telling me!  





Anyway let's have a little dip into the exhibition - after a tiny wait to drop off my coat I went up the stairs to the darkened Salon d'Honneur which is a large grand room - obviously it was darkly lit for the exhibition to showcase the jewellery but they had images of jewellery playing across the ceiling and walls which was quite striking as you can see in my photograph.  (YES photos were allowed!!!!)

The Salon d'Honneur with jewellery images
playing on the darkened walls.

As you went into the room the first thing you saw was a tall cylindrical cabinet slowly moving round and displaying 8 beautiful of the most beautiful tiaras...the diamonds were amazing.  You can get an idea of the sparkle from the video below.

I did not pay much attention to the labels so sadly I cannot tell you the name or owner of this tiara but this Russian style Kokoshnik style is lovely and this was my favourite tiara the detail was gorgeous and I liked the addition of the little pearls too which you can see well in the photo below.  I can tell you a lot of the pieces on display were either part of the Cartier Archive or on loan from Qatar Museum as well as from individuals and royal houses.

This shape tiara is known as the Kokoshnik 
style typical of Russia.

Here an ornate scroll tiara - this featured on the
T-shirt for the V&A Tiaras exhibition a few 
years ago - I have one somewhere!

This tiara was I think once part of the 
Danish royal collection.

This might be the Essex Tiara - I am not sure!

There were lots more tiaras on display in other cabinets dotted around the room and I will show you some more in my next post. There was one very special royal tiara too ;-)

Berlin

I was just in Berlin too see some ballet -although I was there in early December as well but it is a bit late now to show you Christmassy photos!  It was very cold indeed this trip with night time temperatures down to -12C, however everything ran on time no problem!  Here are a few pics from my trip - the city, some food, the ballet and a few odds and ends no real theme!

Looking down Ku'Damm towards the Kaiser Wilhelm 
Memorial Church

Ernst Reuter Platz

Snowy roof tops from my hotel

Savigny Platz gardens - well cleared paths!

Hotel terrace

The seats look like they have 
snow cushions LOL!

The snow on the primroses you can see 
the layers on the table.

The duck fountain near my hotel

Sunset over the roof tops.

The food!!  
Here a Thai coconut and lemongrass  
soup with chicken and mushrooms - yum and
perfect on a freezing cold winter's night!

A Thai red curry Romertopf!

It was very tasty.

A slice of Marly cake by L'Enotre from KaDeWe.

A celeriac and mortadella soup at a 
local Italian Enoteca.

Delicious malfatti - pumpkin and amaretti dish - 
it was divine!  
You really can eat well in Berlin for a lot less money 
than in other cities like Paris or Venice!

The Ballet - 
I went to see Malakhov and Friends - The Final
Here is Vladimir Malakhov with Beatrice Knopp.  
He is retiring from dancing later this year.  
I will miss him.

Iana Salenko and Dinu Tamazlacaru 
who performed the Grand Pas de Deux 
from Don Quixote (my favourite ballet!).
Their costumes were gorgeous.

Vladimir Malakhov with Beatrice Knopp as 
before, Nadja Saidakova (far right) 
and Robert Reimer the conductor(left).

A cute camel I saw in a window on my 
way home from the ballet!

Here you can see icicles on this van parked 
at the airport!

A huge long tunnel I had to walk through at 
Frankfurt Airport to change terminal -it had 
groovy mood lighting that changed colour!

An Airbus aeroplane taxiing to the stand.

The apron at Frankfurt Airport where I changed
planes. 
It was a very short trip to Berlin but it was nice to 
experience proper winter cold!  I really like Berlin 
and hope to go back again soon.