“When Cartier’s talented designer Charles Jacqueau anticipated Art Deco in 1914 by translating the panther’s skin into a pattern of diamonds flecked with onyx, he picked up on the prevailing fascination with this creature, an erotic and exotic symbol of colonialism, and like the new female, fast, free and unfettered. The cats were the perfect expression of sophisticated barbarism: the Marchesa Casati, naked under her fur coat, paraded her two pet cheetahs, while Josephine Baker’s pet panther watched her perform from a stage box.”
Vivienne Becker, “Animal Instincts.” Sotheby’s Magazine, June/July 2015
Vivienne Becker, “Animal Instincts.” Sotheby’s Magazine, June/July 2015
Josephine Baker Revue, Casino de Paris, 1930-1931; Tigre, Cartier Paris, 1986
Image Credit: Cartier l'album
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