The Crown jewels of Natural-History-Museum are on display in the mineralogy and gemology gallery. More modest in quantity and renown than those of the Louvre, the jewels on display are nonetheless invaluable to enthusiasts of exceptional gems that also have their place in French history.
Origin of the French Crown jewels of Natural-History-Museum (Mineralogy and Gemmology Gallery)
A part of the Crown jewels of Natural-History-Museum had already received a first deposit in 1796, at the time of the French Revolution. It was fabulous stones from the royal and noble collections of the Ancien Régime. A new deposit was made in 1887 just before these jewels were sold, enriching the collections with unmounted stones of exceptional quality that have left their mark on history.
Jewels on display in the museum's Gallery of Mineralogy and Gemmology
These gems can be viewed alongside the 68 million objects in the Natural-History-Museum. Also a good opportunity is to visit the unique Evolution Gallery, or to have an instructive stroll through the Jardin des Plantes, which surrounds the museum.
- On display is the famous 135-carat Grand Saphir de Louis XIV. Legend has it that this sapphire once belonged to the Ruspoli family of Rome. But current research has disproved this hypothesis.
In fact, it was not purchased, but presented to the king in 1669 by David Bazu, the great Amsterdam jeweller who accompanied Tavernier on his far-flung expeditions. It is known to have been in the royal collection at the time of the inventory in 1691. Louis XIV had deliberately decided to keep the gem's natural shape. He wore the sapphire as a tie-pin, along with his set of colored stones.
Louis XV almost had it recut, but finally chose the famous Blue Diamond for his Golden Fleece, which was stolen during the 1792 theft of the Crown's diamonds.
- In 1669, Louis XIV bought two topazes, one of which, weighing 28 carats, was transferred to the Natural History Museum in 1796.
- In 1791, at the time of the inventory, there was only one 17-carat emerald in the Crown diamond collection. It had been purchased by Louis XIV, who wore it as a hat button. Later, it was used on one of the two epaulettes of a set worn by Queen Marie Leczinska (wife of Louis XV). In 1796, it also joined the collections of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle.
- In the same year, 1796, the Museum also received the 19-carat two-tone sapphire, once worn as a ring by Queen Marie Leczinska.
- Among the stones deposited in 1887 is one of Louis XVIII's two large opals, weighing 77 carats. It adorned the clasp of Charles X's coronation cloak in 1825. It was dismantled in 1853 and surrounded by a line of 48 small brilliants by Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III) the same year.
- The Diamant-Portrait de l'impératrice Marie-Louise (2nd wife of Napoléon 1er) was purchased with a second, almost identical one, in May 1810 from Nitot. They formed the central plates of a pair of bracelets for the diamond set. This particular cut was used to cover a miniature. Presumably, the Empress wanted to place the portrait of her son, the King of Rome, underneath. The second Diamant-Portrait was sold at the 1887 jewel auction.
- The 35-carat amethyst is one of the rare examples of a set created during the First Empire. On October 7, 1811, the jeweller Nitot delivered a set of amethysts and diamonds to enrich the crown treasury. 235 amethysts made up the order for the new Empress Marie-Louise.
- Louis XVIII (king from 1814 to 1824) decided to dismantle the ensemble, and the stones remained unused until the Second Empire. In 1864, some of the stones, including four of the five most important, were used to create the grand belt and the berthe de pierreries. Unfortunately, the set was sold off in 1887. Nevertheless, a selection of amethysts was deposited between the Ecole des Mines and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle. The latter was able to enrich its collections with a selection of 12 amethysts totaling 168 carats, including the one on display, which was the most important of Marie-Louise's set.
- The Musée d'Histoire Naturelle had also received 19 pink topazes that Napoleon 1er had acquired before 1811 to create a set of “Brazilian rubies” and diamonds for Marie-Louise. The Ecole des Mines received 49.
In addition to the selection of important stones of the Crown jewels of Natural-History-Museum, a number of other unmounted secondary stone were also donated. Some of which can be seen in this showcase and others in the museum's collections. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know exactly which of the museum's collections came from the Crown Diamonds. Indeed, from 1897 onwards, they were separated and mixed in a didactic manner, without notation. It was only from 1903 onwards that the Museum of Natural History's catalogs became more precise in their descriptions and inventories of the pieces in its collections. We can console ourselves with the fact that, although they are mixed, these stones are still in France, in the Museum's national collections.
The ghost of the Great Blue Diamond at the Natural-History-Museum
Louis XIV's Blue Diamond is still on display at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle. It was here in 2008 that what was soon identified by François Farges, mineralogist at the Muséum National Museum of Natural History, as the only lead casting of the real Great Blue Diamond of Louis XIV.
A first link on the origin of this "lead" points to a certain “Mr Hope of London”. This was the banker Henry-Philipp Hope, who purchased the jewel. This masterpiece has been reworked to erase its French parentage. But first, a lead mold was made. The modified diamond became the “Hope”, named after its owner-receiver at the time. After several changes of ownership, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington in 1958.
The Grand Blue Diamond, an enigma that lasted 215 years, is now clearly and scientifically recognized in the Hope diamond, with the added bonus of a sad reputation. The stone is reputed to have brought bad luck to its successive owners.
Shortly after this major discovery of “its” lead mold by F. Farges, Louis XIV's blue diamond was digitally reconstructed as it was in the 17th century. François Farges discovered that it was cut in the image of the Sun King and in the colors of the French monarchy (gold and azure). This masterpiece has been reissued in blue zirconia (a material that imitates diamonds), which can be seen in the Natural History Museum's “Treasures of the Earth” exhibition.
Louis XIV's original Grand Blue Diamond was a massive 115.4-carat (approx. 23 g) diamond - the largest known - purchased by Louis XIV and cut by Jean Pittan. He made it into a masterpiece weighing 69 carats. The lapidary had conceived a cosmology centered around the Sun King. The diamond's gold setting and play of light were said to reveal a sun at the heart of the stone, against a background of blue sky.
The Grand Blue Diamond today - or what's left of it: the Hope
Twenty years and two days after the 1792 theft, i.e. two days after the legal statute of limitations, a 45.5-carat oval-shaped blue diamond appeared in London. Its owner at the time was banker Thomas Hope, who had it re-cut (a sloppy job, according to the experts, with some of the brilliance lost - so Thomas Hope was a fence?). Jean Pittan's masterpiece had thus been destroyed. What remained was a new diamond called the Hope, now scientifically recognized as the remnant, albeit much less beautiful, of the Great Blue Diamond of the French Crown, stolen in 1792.
The diamond remained in the Hope family until the early 20th century, when it was resold several times before arriving at Cartier in 1910. In 1911, it was acquired by American billionaire Evalyn Walsh McLean, who kept it until her death in 1947. It is now on display at Washington's Smithtonian Institute in the Winston Gallery, named after the man who finally donated it to the Museum in 1958.
If legend is to be believed, the “Hope” has brought nothing but misfortune in its wake. Its owners were plagued by a series of dramatic events: bankruptcy, suicide, madness, drowning, it was accused of ruining two New York jewelers, and of the murder of a dancer at the Folies Bergères. Evalyn Walsh McLean, the American billionaire who bought the diamond from Cartier in 1911, defied the curse for thirty-six years, during which time she lost two children and a husband who ended up in an asylum. But some were spared the curse. The main person who brought this jewel back to Louis XIV, Mr. Tavernier, died of natural causes at the age of 84, and the Smithtonian Institute, where the Hope attracts 8 million visitors a year - as many as the Mona Lisa.
Note More in the book "LE DIAMANT BLEU" de FRANÇOIS FARGES, THIERRY PIANTANIDA - Edition Michel Lafon
The Great Blue Diamond and the Toison d'Or (Golden Fleece)
Louis XV incorporated the Great Blue Diamond into the Golden Fleece in 1743, when he was named Chevalier de la Toison d'Or. Louis XV was the first French king to receive this prestigious distinction of Burgundian origin. In 1749, the jeweler Jacqmin created various insignia of the Golden Fleece for the king. including one known as the "parure de couleur", composed of the true masterpieces below (from top to bottom):
- The 33-carat blue diamond, smaller than the “Grand Diamand bleu” and formerly known as “Bazu”. It was a light sky-blue and was placed at the top of the jewel. Recent research will soon reveal its twin history with the Great Blue Diamond of Louis XIV. It is considered the 4th most precious diamond in the Crown jewels of the time. Its faceting was recovered from a cast discovered in the Louvre Museum in 2014.
- The “Côte de Bretagne”, a 107-carat ruby-spinel cut in the shape of a dragon by Jacques Guay. This dragon is nestled in a tree with golden apples, represented by two “oriental topazes”, i.e. two yellow sapphires. The dragon's wings spread to the right and its tail curled towards the jewel's clasp are set with hundreds of brilliants, three palms that form the branches of the golden apple tree.
- The large 69-carat “Crown blue diamond”, by Jean Pittan, cut in 1673 for Louis XIV. It is still the largest blue diamond ever found. It is also considered the first large brilliant-cut diamond in history. It is now at the Smithtonian Institute in Washington, under the name Hope.
- The ram's body is set with 112 yellow-painted brilliants and represents the Golden Fleece itself.
Sadly, the Toison d'Or, this masterpiece, was stolen in its entirety and dismantled in 1792. Only the dragon was recovered in 1797, and is now housed in the Musée du Louvre.
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