Cartier’s New Emerald Necklace Brings Art Deco Style to Its Latest High Jewelry Collection

When Cartier unveiled its latest high jewelry collection, Nature Sauvage, during an elaborate ball held at the Grand Hall of Vienna’s Austrian National Library back in May, one thing was clear: The big necklace continues to be the ne plus ultra of high jewelry. Sure, there were lavish bracelets, such as a Panthère that wrapped around the wrist and up the hand, coiling into a ring with a singular sugarloaf emerald attached to it. There was also a Panthère brooch, worn on the shoulder with a curved design that reinforced the collection’s focus on a trompe l’oeil effect. 

But for the most part, it was the necklace that ruled, done in every sort of iteration, from juicy Tutti Frutti bibs in carved emerald, sapphire and ruby, to graphically set diamonds and giant drops of rubellite and aquamarine, to onyx-and-diamond collars with a distinct nod to Cartier’s Art Deco legacy (echoed also by attendee Sofia Coppola’s coral-and-diamond lariat). 

Now, the French maison is reinforcing its big necklace energy with an extension of the Nature Sauvage collection, introducing four new colliers that focus on graphic designs, optical illusions and, of course, some major gemstones, particularly the sugarloaf emerald in one key piece.

For the Sibaya necklace, Cartier director of high jewelry Jacqueline Karachi used 45 different sugarloaf-cut emeralds of varying size and near-matches in color—including a 7.96-carat Colombian emerald drop—to create a tapestry of colored gems on a bib silhouette with matching earrings as a high jewelry suite.

The sugarloaf emeralds (a type of cabochon cut of the stone that is distinguished by four sides polished to a point—and named for its candy-like appearance) create a distinctly graphic look in their arrangement amongst various diamond cuts and diamond pavé details. But the inspiration is, as the collection named implies, au naturel:  The emeralds are meant to evoke the spiky tail and back of a crocodile; the diamonds a glittering reflection of water on the slithering animal. 

It isn’t the first time Cartier has paid homage to the reptile. While the jewelry brand may be best known for its panther-inspired creations in the kingdom of animal jewelry, its massive double crocodile necklace designed for Mexican actress María Félix in 1975 has become one its most recognizable archival pieces. In the brand’s new high jewelry, it clearly still looms large.