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Cartier archives. Cartier providing access to their wealth of knowledge and holdings continues the Maison's desire to encourage curiosity and scholarship. Was there one Aha! moment when you decided, "Okay, we're going to do this show"? SS: There has long been talk about this idea of the influence of Islamic art in Cartier. I think it initially came about in a conversation. We would go to Paris and have three- or four-day workshops where we discussed: "Is there enough material? What would that story be?" What was interesting were our conversations about motif. We would look at certain pieces and say, "Is that the Japanese wave motif, or is that the Islamic scale pattern?" We would look at the Cartier library and think, 'Well, what was Louis Cartier looking at? What did he have access to?' We can tell Louis saw these things because they were in his library. He put little Xs by them. He marked things as being of interest. Then you see these ideas turn up in Cartier works. Cartier and the Maharajahs. SS: Some of these jewels were specifically made for wealthy Indian clients, so these jewels were not a westernized view for a westernized public. Many times, Indian clients would come in and say, "These are my family jewels, but modernize them. I want something that is of this moment, that links the past to the present." There's a lot in this show of what Cartier refers to as apprêts — taking other pieces of jewelry and incorporating them into new jewelry. Sometimes the original jewels were lightly touched; other times, it was a more intensive integration. I think the idea of resetting the stones or combining pieces of jewelry is interesting — honoring history but modernizing it to taste or interest of a particular client. T h e r o l e s b r o t h e r s L o u i s and Jacques Cartier played. SS: Louis was the leader. He ran the Paris office, which is central, the main office. All roads lead to Paris. He was an omnivore. He was curious; he was investigatory. He had a very keen eye, and you can see that he pored over his books. He picked things that were interesting. And you sense that everything was interesting to him. He was looking for shapes and forms, and how those things could be made into jewelry. There also seems to be a tremendous sense of generosity and the desire to share information. Part of why we know what art and objects he collected is because he shared them by lending to exhibitions. And he collected everything from Persian pieces to contemporary portfolios of Islamic art. He was also assembling a study library accessible to his CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: CARTIER ARCHIVES, PARIS © CARTIER. © THE CECIL BEATON STUDIO ARCHIVE AT SOTHEBY'S. PHOTO NILS HERRMANN, CARTIER COLLECTION © CARTIER. PHOTO MARIAN GÉRARD, CARTIER COLLECTION © CARTIER. PHOTO NILS HERRMANN, CARTIER COLLECTION © CARTIER. (Continued from page 26) (Continued) Bazuband upper arm bracelet, Cartier Paris for Cartier London, special order, 1922. Platinum, old-cut diamonds. Jacques Cartier on a train platform in India, 1911 Bib necklace, Cartier Paris, special order, 1947 Daisy Fellowes wearing her Tui Frui (Hindu style) necklace, a Cartier Collection piece, 1936 Head ornament, Cartier New York, circa 1924 28