Blue topaz, around 250 million years old -

© MNHN / F. Farges

The history of mineral formation can be counted in millions of years.

That of jewelry and ornaments, rather in millions of euros.

The National Museum of Natural History invites us on a journey to the heart of art and science, during a remarkable exhibition, in partnership with the Parisian fine jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels.

Entitled

Precious stones

, simply, the show was originally scheduled for April.

Containment has postponed its opening for several months.

Like what, as with diamonds, eternal of course, everything is a question of time with precious stones ...

Clip Clovers, 1964-1966 - © Van Cleef & Arpels

"The exhibition gives pride of place to minerals less known than diamonds, sapphires, or gold, such as topaz for example," explains François Farges, curator of the exhibition.

Formed in mountain ranges around six hundred million years ago, this gem is one of the thirty-three that are presented in the exhibition, grouped under seven categories of conditions favorable to their emergence: pressure, temperature, l oxygen, plate tectonics ...

Emergence of gemology

Then comes the time for men's work.

The exhibition offers a journey through the history of mineralogy, gemology and know-how allowing a stone to pass from the raw state to that of a so-called “precious” stone.

Some five hundred minerals and gems from the Museum's collection, as well as two hundred pieces from the heritage collection of Van Cleef & Arpels, invite us to understand the evolution of these creations.

The ritual and symbolic objects of prehistory meet the jewelry and decorative objects made today.

Ring of Her Majesty Queen Nazli of Egypt, 1939 - © Van Cleef & Arpels / P. Gries

In its last and brief part, "Paris, place of knowledge", the exhibition shows how such ceremonial objects which made the French capital the European center of the gem market, at the beginning of the 19th century, became objects. of scientific studies thanks to the support of René-Just Haüy, founder of modern mineralogy and pioneering gemologist.

Beauty through science

Please note, here we are neither in a luxury boutique nor in a fine art museum, but in a place dedicated to science.

The exhibition route therefore adopts a scientific approach, and more specifically geoscientific, to highlight the history of cultures and the aesthetic evolution of work on precious stones.

“The beauty of natural history, both that of its objects and that of the phenomena at work in nature, is an inexhaustible source of wonder,” enthuses Bruno David, President of the Museum.

This emotion allows us to approach knowledge differently and to fix in our memory the facts that science shows us.

"

Large Orsini table, 17th century - © MNHN / B. Faye

To ensure the spectacle and sublimate the multiple variations of colors of the stones by plays of light and transparency, the Museum called on the designer Patrick Jouin and the architect Sanjit Manku.

This casting was necessary, if only for the very first presentation in France of the platinum and diamond necklace designed in 1939 by Van Cleef & Arpels for Queen Nazli of Egypt.

Perhaps the highlight of the exhibition.

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  • Jewelry

  • Museum

  • Exposure

  • Culture

  • Paris