Inside Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s love affair with Chaumet
Trips to Europe hold a special place in the biography of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. It was in turn of the 19th century Paris that the New York City born great-granddaughter of railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt discovered her love of art, which led to an education in sculpture at the hands of tutors including Auguste Rodin, and the eventual opening of her own Greenwich Village studio. When in London in the spring of 1910 – by then, she had tied the knot with Harry Payne Whitney, the athletic heir with interests in the Standard Oil Company – Vanderbilt Whitney indulged her love of jewellery. From Chaumet, she chose a set of wing tiaras, crafted from platinum and finessed with blue enamel, 566 diamonds and 708 rose-cut.
The Parisian master jeweller's fantasy plumage betokens Vanderbilt Whitney's avant-garde taste: transformable, the modern creation could moonlight as a set of brooches. The work of Joseph Chaumet, the wing tiaras nod to the Belle Époque's embrace of naturalistic themes, but Chaumet also turned to Norse mythology and opera for inspiration. ‘This type of tiara was inspired by the Valkyries in Wagner’s operas and their winged helmets,’ the brand's heritage director Claire Gannet tells me. ‘The design was revolutionary because the wings were worn on a tiara frame and could move in several directions.’
At Chaumet's home on Place Vendôme, the heritage make's archives have long been a source of fascination and inspiration. This year, past masterpieces – Vanderbilt Whitney's precious pinions among them, in addition to a striking triple-sun diamond tiara that once belonged to Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia and was lost during the Russian Revolution – influenced Mirage, one of six creative chapters that make up Chaumet's latest high jewellery collection, Perspectives. Dazzling with deep blue sapphires and diamonds (among them pear-cuts, a Chaumet forte), Mirage counts a secret watch, a transformable tiara and curvilinear earrings. ‘Maison Chaumet has been creating exceptional jewellery for 240 years. Many famous clients, each significant in their moment of time, chose Chaumet to turn their dreams into jewels,’ says Gannet. ‘Chaumet has counted among its clients many trailblazing women including Empress Josephine, Gertrude Vanderbilt, Karen von Blixen and Lady Edwina Mountbatten. All have shaped their eras with pioneering and personal choices.’
Shop Perspectives de Chaumet at Chaumet.com
1/4Perspectives de Chaumet Mirage necklace in white gold, set with one brilliant-cut diamond of approximately 0.70 carat, round sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds.
2/4Perspectives de Chaumet Mirage transformable earrings in white gold, set with one pear-shaped D VVS2 diamond of approximately 1.70 carats, round sapphires, brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds.
3/4Perspectives de Chaumet Mirage ring in white gold, set with one oval-cut sapphire from Madagascar of approximately 5.71 carats, round sapphires, brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds.
4/4Perspectives de Chaumet Mirage secret watch in white gold, bezel, lugs and crown set with brilliant-cut diamonds of 1.85 carats with a navy blue satin strap.
