Cartier In The 20th Century - Margaret Young-Sánchez - Thames & Hudson

Cartier's long history of ultra-lux design and fabrication, of contriving ever more splendid vehicles for ornament, reveals a fascinating order of objects in which function is utterly secondary to spectacle. Eschewing the spirit of modernism entirely, the jewelers have pursued an unflagging agenda of beguiling the purpose of their creations through tireless elaboration, encrustation and mystification. This is a luscious publication, beautifully designed and packed with gem-like photographs. As a survey of the activities of Cartier over the last century it is perfectly judged. The myriad objects on show are testimony to man's endless obsession with the rare, with surface and detail. There are dozens of thrilling pieces here but perhaps the most fabulous are the Mystery Clocks. Cartier made a series of these, staggeringly extravagant, virtuoso pieces. Some of them featured hands which, seemingly suspended in faces of pure, transparent rock crystal, would keep perfect time without the smallest evidence of any mechanism to drive them. They are truly magical objects. The first time I saw one I was nine years old yet today, the idea still inspires the same delighted curiosity it did then. The book is every bit as seductive as the works it documents.