How the Panther Became Cartier’s Fiercest—and Most Famous—Icon
The jeweler’s history with felines reaches an apex with its Cartier Panthère Reflexio necklace.
Long before Cartier claimed the panther as its mascot, the creature stalked the imagination of Jeanne Toussaint. In the early decades of the 20th century, Toussaint, a Belgium-born style radical who was nicknamed La Panthère for her sharp wit and feline grace, helped transform Cartier into an arbiter of modern chic. Appointed creative director in 1933, she presided over an all-male atelier on the Rue de la Paix and laid down the aesthetic blueprint for Cartier’s modern era.
“Say that it was this little birdlike woman who revolutionised the art of jewelry,” Cecil Beaton once wrote, “that it is to her we owe the current, more flexible jewelry…serpents, leopards, and tigers.” More than a century later, her spirit still prowls through the maison, most recently in the new Panthère Reflexio necklace, a tour de force that brings twin panthers face-to-face across a 74.10-carat green tourmaline and a 14.91-carat coral drop.
Toussaint’s first wildlife encounter came in the form of a gift. In 1917, Louis Cartier presented her with a cigarette case embellished with a panther resting between two cypress trees. At the time, owning wild felines had become the height of dangerous glamour: The Marchesa Luisa Casati paraded her two pet cheetahs through the streets of Venice on jeweled leashes, while Josephine Baker’s own cheetah, Chiquita, often attended the entertainer’s performances in Paris, adding a frisson of menace for audiences and her hapless orchestra.
By 1948, under Toussaint’s aegis, the panther had become a Cartier signature, thanks in no small part to the legendary brooch commissioned by the Duke of Windsor for Wallis Simpson, which featured a gold and black enamel–spotted panther perched on a 116-carat emerald cabochon. The following year, Toussaint designed a sapphire and diamond version, which the Windsors acquired as well. The duchess famously wore this one at her waist, the great cat guarding her belt with imperious calm.
Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, sporting her Cartier Panthère sapphire brooch, 1949.
Simpson’s Panthère brooch with an emerald cabochon, 1948
Over time, the Cartier panther has shape-shifted through countless incarnations, appearing on watches, bracelets, rings, and clutches. Rendering the creature’s anatomy is a feat of engineering: In Cartier’s high jewelry ateliers, gem setters form each onyx spot and diamond patch stone by stone. A fully articulated panther can take more than a year to make, its coat suggested through gems placed in subtly irregular patterns that play with light and shadow beneath the surface.
If you’re not quite prepared to hunt down one of Cartier’s more elusive high jewelry creations, fear not. The 1983 debut of the Panthère de Cartier watch turned the motif into an everyday icon. Relaunched in 2017, the timepiece now comes in gold and steel. Today the panther also appears on Cartier’s leather goods, accessories, and even fragrance bottles. As recognizable as Cartier’s red box, Love bracelet, or Trinity rings, it is a fierce emblem that, after more than a hundred years, continues to enthrall.
Clockwise from top left: Helen Dryden/Condé Nast via Getty Images; CM Dixon/Heritage Images/Getty Images; Florilegius/Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Bettmann. Center: Courtesy of Cartier.
