Cartier: Imagining Asia

Glitzy online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum examining the influence of China and Japan on the jeweller Cartier. 

Pascale Lepeu, Cartier Collection Curator and Estelle Nikles Van Osselt, former Bauer Collection Curator (about to move to Hong Kong Palace Museum) discussed the material and stylistic influences chaired by Anne Jackson, the curator of museums Kimono’s exhibition.

They gave a brief overview of how and when Eastern artefacts started to come to the west and how the 1920s saw a study and appreciation of these pieces following the opening of Japan to the west and the fall of the Chinese Empire in 1912. They pointed out how this coincided with the Art Deco style in Europe and how eastern materials and motifs complimented this.

They outlined the different materials and colour combinations which were introduced as well as outlining the main motifs used from the East using wonderful illustrations comparing items made by Cartier with original Eastern pieces and including advertising material.

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