Of Chinoiserie inspiration, the rectangular-shaped case set with lapis lazuli and carved jade plaques adorned with the Chinese symbol for longevity, embellished with architectural detail outlined in coral and diamonds, the interior accessed with the aid of a coral and diamond set button and fitted with two compartments, a lipstick holder and mirror, circa 1925, signed Cartier Paris Londres New York and numbered. Accompanied by its original fitted case. Dimensions: 9.9cm x 5.3cm x 1.9cm. Total weight 276 grams.

Note:
The fascination with the arts of the East that characterised so much of Parisian jewellery design in the 1920s was far from a new phenomenon. It was the culmination of centuries of trade, cultural exchange and artistic reinterpretation, through which motifs and techniques from China, Persia, India and Japan had gradually entered the European decorative vocabulary.

Chinese porcelains arrived in Europe aboard Portuguese and Dutch merchant ships in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and became such a coveted item amongst Europe's elite that it gave birth to a whole industry, whose fruits sit on your dining table today. By the eighteenth century, the porcelains, lacquerware and silks arriving from China had inspired a flourishing European fashion which came to be known as 'chinoiserie'. Craftsmen freely reinterpreted Chinese ornament for Western tastes...motifs of dragons, clouds, flowers and landscapes, were incorporated into furniture, porcelain, textiles and jewellery.

These tastes expanded and the nineteenth century brought new sources of inspiration. The opening of Japan to international trade in the 1850s, introduced a wealth of lacquerwork, prints and decorative objects that would profoundly influence European taste. There was a growing fascination with the arts of the Islamic world too. Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1798, followed by the French conquest of Algeria in 1830, exposed European artists to new forms of architecture and ornament, while travellers' accounts and the study of monuments such as the Alhambra in Granada encouraged an appreciation of intricate geometric patterns, arabesques and richly coloured ceramics. Persian manuscripts, carpets and textiles offered further inspiration, their elaborate floral designs and vivid colours finding their way into European decorative arts.

By the 1920s, these different traditions had been studied, imitated and reinterpreted over generations.

This Cartier box brings together a broad plaque of lapis lazuli and carved Chinese jade bearing the character for longevity. The scrolling outlines, picked out in coral and diamonds, suggest Chinese cloud ornament, yet their elaborate contours have something of the character of Persian architectural decoration. The intense blue of the lapis, too, recalls the glazed tiles and richly coloured surfaces of Persian and Islamic architecture. And yet these rich blues and greens are a colour combination that Cartier repeated in their boxes with Chinese influence. Making this box a perfect distillation of all these influences, firmly anchored in the Parisian aesthetics of the late 1920s.