Jean-Baptiste Tavernier: Rediscovered Treasures
The story of the diamonds acquired by the French King Louis XIV from the travelling merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
After traveling throughout Europe and the Orient for over fifty years, French dealer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier returned to Paris in 1668.
His chests contained hundreds of diamonds, pure masterpieces of Indo-Mughal lapidary Art of the 17th century. Over time, these diamonds would be re-cut, lost, forgotten, or stolen.
What did these legendary stones look like? To answer this question, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts and the Paris National Museum of Natural History, reproduced the twenty most beautiful diamonds, purchased by Louis XIV from Tavernier, from the famous mine of Golconda in India.
These replicas, presented for the first time, cut in zirconia, reveal the lost splendor of imperial India.
- François Farges
Mineralogist, Honorary Member of the University Institute of France and of Stanford University & Professor at the Paris National Museum of Natural History - Jeffrey Post
Department of Mineral Sciences Chairman, Curator of the National Gem and Mineral Collection at the Smithsonian Institution - Paul Paradis
Art Historian & Professor at L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts
The conversation lasts about one hour, and is preceded by a reception
October 27, 2018, 3:30PM-5:30PM