CARTIER Louis François (Jewellery designer)

This brooch, designed as a flamingo in characteristic pose, has plumage set with calibré-cut emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Cabochon citrine and sapphire are used for the beak, a sapphire for the eye, with the head, neck, body and legs pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds. It was created in 1940 by Jeanne Toussaint for the jewellery firm Cartier, founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis François Cartier. This jewel was designed for the Duchess of Windsor, who owned one of the finest jewellery collections of the 1940s. It was chosen by the Duke of Windsor, who spent a great deal of time choosing jewels to adorn her clothes, often designed as a setting for a particular gem. Pieces such as this one (resold in 1987 for $470,000) were still considered avant-garde many years after their design and were the precursors of a new vocabulary in bijouterie after the Second World War. 

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