An Egyptian Limestone Relief Fragment, 18th Dynasty, reign of Tuthmosis III, 1479-1426 B.C.

Jeanne Toussaint (1887-1976), former director of fine jewelry for Cartier, Paris, then by descent

acquired by the present owner at auction in 2023

A closely related relief fragment, also from the Toussaint Collection, was sold in the same auction in which the present fragment was acquired. In his inventory of the Toussaint Collection, executed in Paris on December 3rd, 1976, the antiquities dealer Charles Ratton only mentions one relief, which he dates tentatively to the Old Kingdom.

Jeanne Toussaint began her career at Cartier in 1913 when Louis Cartier hired her to coordinate his company's accessories department. With a keen eye for design, Toussaint rose through the ranks of Cartier when she was first promoted to the head of the silver department in 1918, and then in 1933, to the head of luxury jewelry, a role she held until her retirement in 1970.

During Toussaint's early years at Cartier, the company's now iconic La Panthère designs emerged. Louis Cartier affectionately called Toussaint ‘ma petite panthère’, and her designs included three-dimensional panthers set with diamonds, emeralds and onyx. From 1948, she created several of these specifically for Wallis Simpson, the then Duchess of Windsor, in addition to pieces featuring other animal motifs, such as dragonflies. However, one of her most famous pieces was a brooch she commissioned in 1941, depicting a caged nightingale symbolic of Parisian oppression under the Nazis. Displaying her creation in the Cartier window in blatant opposition to the German occupation, she was arrested by the Gestapo - although her relationship with Coco Chanel meant that she was later freed. In honour of her contribution to jewelry and design, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Toussaint died in Paris in 1976, seven years after her retirement.