P is for Cartier’s Panther

Making an unobtrusive appearance in 1914, the indomitable feline eventually made a deep mark on the jewelry company, and became an icon. Under director Jeanne Toussaint’s leadership, it inspired magnificent creations and remains very much alive today.

Celebrated in brooches, bracelets, watches and necklaces, the panther has padded through Cartier‘s collections for over a century. It has won over the world’s most elegant women throughout the decades, including the Duchess of Windsor, her contemporary Daisy Fellowes (heiress to the Singer company), Princess Grace of Monaco, Princess Shirin Aga Khan, Mexican actress María Félix, French actress Jacqueline Delubac, Saint-Germain-des-Prés muse Juliette Gréco and Italian aristocrat and patron Marella Agnelli. Even today, the big cat continues to exert a powerful attraction, as witnessed by its recurring and constantly reinvented presence in contemporary creations. “The panther remains a commanding symbol of not only femininity and elegance but also independence and even danger,” says Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s Director of Image, Style and Heritage. “It is inseparable from the image of freedom. However, its first understated appearance in 1914 was purely aesthetic. The wild feline entered the Cartier repertoire with the evocation of its fur on a watch dial paved with diamonds and onyx. This abstract representation reflected Cartier’s taste for black and white jewelry. But the choice of the panther also resonated with the current vogue for the exotic.

“Panthéromanie”

Exerting a powerful fascination since antiquity, the big cat occupied a prominent place in art, fashion and decoration in the early 20^th century, and another panther entered the Parisian jeweler’s premises in 1914. In artist Georges Barbier’s drawing on an invitation to a jewelry exhibition, the panther is shown lying at the feet of a woman wearing a very long pearl necklace. The fierce animal made a further appearance in the company’s creations in 1917 in figurative form, inlaid on an onyx toiletry set. At the same time, paving evoking the panther’s coat began to appear in bracelets, brooches, cigarette cases, cufflinks and so on. In 1931, at Daisy Fellowes’ request, the company created a necklace in a real panther skin of platinum, sapphires, turquoise and diamonds. Then, in 1935, a ring featured — for the first time in three dimensions — two panther heads facing each other, separated by a star ruby held in their front paws. But it wasn’t until 1948 and a commission from the Duke of Windsor that the feline was represented in volume in its entirety. Abandoning black and white jewelry, the piece created was a brooch featuring a 116 ct emerald, on which the animal in yellow gold and black enamel proudly rested. Shortly afterwards, Cartier designed another brooch, soon to become iconic, with a sculptural panther paved with diamonds and sapphires adorning a 152 ct sapphire cabochon. This was immediately bought by the Windsors. At the same time, in 1949, Daisy Fellowes acquired a “Golden Fleece” brooch with, instead of a ram, a panther with articulated head and legs. From then on, the trend was established once and for all: the noble big cat was adopted by the most elegant high society women and became a sign of prestige. Jean Cocteau even coined the term “panthéromanie” (panther mania) for the craze. But for Pierre Rainero, “the panther also resonated with Cartier’s identity. In representing it in 3D, like a sculpture, without any reference to antique pieces, the House boldly broke with the codes of jewelry.” The items designed by Peter Lemarchand were the result of long hours spent studying the feline’s expressions and movements at the zoo in Vincennes. Taking realism a step further, the company also evoked the animal’s fur and silky appearance through an exclusive technique known as “serti pelage” (“fur setting”), which involved surrounding the stones representing the rosettes on the skin with grains of metal incorporated into tiny threads, giving the impression of hairs. The naturalistic panther was at first dominant and proud, then playful, sensual or even in mid-roar. Appearing in necklaces, tiaras and rings, its attitudes and depictions evolved over time. “Aesthetic, functional and symbolic relevance were all central to the Cartier panther’s timeless success,” says Pierre Rainero. But the power of the motif was also linked with its embodiment by a woman.

Jeanne Toussaint, aka PanPan

Jeanne Toussaint was already associated with the panther, even before her path took her to the very heart of the company in Rue de la Paix. In 1913, during a safari in Africa, her then lover saw how fascinated she was by wild animals, and gave her the affectionate nickname of “PanPan” (from the French, “panthère”). But the connection between the cat and the future creative director of jewelry also reflected her authoritarian nature and fierce determination, as well as her unconcealed liking for panther (leopard) skin: “She was famous in Paris for adopting an audacious leopard skin coat very early on, and for decorating her apartment with spectacular panther skins,” says Francesca Cartier Brickell in her book Les Cartier. Louis Cartier, who made the elegant beauty his mistress and then his collaborator, soon nicknamed her “the Panther”. It was a sobriquet that followed her throughout her career with the company run by the three Cartier brothers, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, which she joined in the early 1920s. She started out in the handbag department, and was then introduced to jewelry by her lover, who quickly spotted her sense of style and discerning taste, and appointed her creative director of the haute joaillerie department in 1933. Establishing herself in a man’s world, she held this position until 1970. It was Toussaint who brought her favorite animal to life in volume and color on some remarkable pieces, and made it an emblem of the company.

The Panther Conquers New Territories

In the 1980s, the panther clawed its way into new spheres. A watch bearing its name was introduced. Inspired by the “Santos” model and featuring a flexible bracelet whose links suggested the animal’s undulating movement, it was an out-and-out success in its versions for men and women alike. The feline also moved into olfactory territory, with the launch of a fragrance named after it in 1987. Constantly adapting to the times, the panther entered the 21^st century with a new, more graphic and geometric design. In 2014, the year of the panther’s centenary in the company, it sported a coat inspired by digital pixels: a brilliant idea evoking both contemporary technologies and its first abstract appearance in 1914. The designs include an onyx and diamond bracelet with the feline running at full speed, evoking this twofold reference. Between innovation and heritage, the panther constantly reinvents itself. In 2023, the Haute Joaillerie Collection featured the panther in a necklace, captured in a world of ice with a body fragmented into shards of diamonds and aquamarines. In 2024, after some 3,000 hours of work, another necklace, in diamonds, onyx and sapphires, was presented on a bed of shattered ice. These various pieces one day found their way into the auction market, where the animal makes regular appearances. Some even made the headlines. In 1987, for example, at the memorable sale of the Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry at Sotheby’s, the iconic 1949 diamond and sapphire pin brooch fetched $1.4 M, bought by Cartier for its collection, after a ferocious battle. In 2010, an articulated onyx and diamond bracelet created for the same Duchess fetched £4.5 M (€6.3 M at today’s value), setting a new record for a Cartier jewelry piece. Less exceptional but more recent, a 1960s brooch in onyx, diamonds and emeralds fetched CHF554,400 (€566,500) — well above its estimate — at Christie’s in Geneva last May. Clearly, the Cartier panther is still the cat’s whiskers!

The Cartier Panther
in 5 key dates
1914
First appearance on a watch
1933
Jeanne Toussaint becomes Creative Director
1948
First three-dimensional representation
1983
Launch of a watch named after the big cat
2010
Auction record for a piece of Cartier jewelry

Worth Reading
Stéphanie Des Horts
La Panthère, pub. by Le Livre de poche
Cartier Panthère, pub. by Assouline (in English)