From the 1920s onward, Cartier Paris produced a series of decorative cases intended to hold cosmetics (powder compacts, lipstick, a small mirror) that were designed and made to the same standards as the firm's jewellery. These objects are now collectively described as vanity cases, though they were known by various terms at the time, and they represent one of Cartier's most sustained engagements with the decorative arts tradition of the objet de luxe.
The cases were typically small enough to fit in an evening bag or hold comfortably in one hand. Their exteriors drew on the same range of visual sources that the Cartier designers were using for jewellery in the same period: Chinese lacquerwork, Persian tilework, Egyptian motifs, Japanese decorative arts. A Chinese-inspired example from the 1920s might combine a lacquered exterior with jade-green enamel borders and a clasp set with an emerald cabochon; slide the clasp and the interior springs open to reveal fitted powder compartments and a lipstick holder on a spring mechanism that rises helpfully when the case is opened. Some panels carried grisaille enamel scenes, monochromatic painted compositions that gave a formal, cameo-like quality to the lid decoration.
The engineering of the interior was not an afterthought. The compartments were shaped to fit the cosmetic elements precisely; the spring mechanisms were calibrated to raise the lipstick holder to the correct height; the hinges and latches were made to close flush so the exterior read as a coherent decorative surface. This was miniature engineering applied to a functional object, and it required the same kind of craft investment as the jewellery that came out of the same workshops.
The visual sources for the cases were assembled by Jacques Cartier and Louis Cartier through extensive travel and collecting; Jacques in particular brought back lacquerwork, textiles, carvings, and illustrated books from India, China, and Persia that became reference material for the design studio. The Chinese-inspired vanity cases are one direct product of that sourcing, with the designs of the exteriors closely following decorative patterns from Chinese lacquerwork and silk textiles that the firm had acquired.
Among the specialist ateliers that supplied these objects, Strauss, Allard et Meyer became a principal source of lacquer and chinoiserie cases for Cartier New York from 1912, while Verger Frères produced both jewellery cases and clock cases for the firm.
Cartier vanity cases from this period appear regularly in major jewellery auctions. Their value depends on the quality of the exterior decoration, the completeness of the interior fittings, and the condition of the enamel and lacquer work, which is susceptible to damage at the edges and hinges.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 5 (“Stones Paris: Early 1920s”) and ch. 10 (“Cousins in Austerity, 1945–1956”)
- Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary (Thames and Hudson, 1984; revised 2007), pp. 147, 149 et al.
