- Sat Aug 09, 2025 3:49 pm#8841
1
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier acquired the precursor to the Hope Diamond
A French merchant-traveler named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier obtained the stone in 1642 in India, either by purchase, or, as some think more likely, through deception and murder.
Tavernier returned to Paris with a large uncut diamond that became known as the Tavernier Blue diamond and sold it to King Louis XIV.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, numerous dubious reports claimed that the Tavernier Blue was pilfered from the eye of a sculpture of the Hindu goddess Sita.
There is a myth that Tavernier was later torn apart by wild dogs because of the diamond’s curse.
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The Tavernier Blue was the Precursor to the Hope Diamond
The Tavernier Blue was a crudely cut triangular shaped stone of an estimated 115 carats (23.0 g).
Tavernier’s book, the Six Voyages, contains sketches of several large diamonds that he sold to Louis XIV c.1668.
One of the historical fabrications regarding this gem suggests that it is as large as a man’s fist. However, the reality is that it measures slightly over an inch in both length and width, and is half an inch deep (32.89 x 27.65 x 12.92 mm).
In 2005, 3D imaging technology was used to confirm beyond doubt that the Tavernier Blue was the precursor to the French Blue—and subsequently the Hope Diamond.
3
King Louis XV’s Order of the Golden Fleece
In 1678, Louis XIV had his court jeweler, Jean Pitau, recut the Tavernier Blue into a 67.125 carat diamond, which became known as the French Blue.
Louis’ descendant, King Louis XV, had the French Blue set into a more elaborate jewelled pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece by court jeweler André Jacquemin.
The assembled piece included a red spinel of 107 carats shaped as a dragon breathing “covetous flames”, as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to suggest a fleece shape.
King Louis XV died of smallpox at the Palace of Versailles.
The diamond became the property of his grandson, the ill-fated Louis XVI.
Image credit: Francoisfarges.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier acquired the precursor to the Hope Diamond
A French merchant-traveler named Jean-Baptiste Tavernier obtained the stone in 1642 in India, either by purchase, or, as some think more likely, through deception and murder.
Tavernier returned to Paris with a large uncut diamond that became known as the Tavernier Blue diamond and sold it to King Louis XIV.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, numerous dubious reports claimed that the Tavernier Blue was pilfered from the eye of a sculpture of the Hindu goddess Sita.
There is a myth that Tavernier was later torn apart by wild dogs because of the diamond’s curse.
2
The Tavernier Blue was the Precursor to the Hope Diamond
The Tavernier Blue was a crudely cut triangular shaped stone of an estimated 115 carats (23.0 g).
Tavernier’s book, the Six Voyages, contains sketches of several large diamonds that he sold to Louis XIV c.1668.
One of the historical fabrications regarding this gem suggests that it is as large as a man’s fist. However, the reality is that it measures slightly over an inch in both length and width, and is half an inch deep (32.89 x 27.65 x 12.92 mm).
In 2005, 3D imaging technology was used to confirm beyond doubt that the Tavernier Blue was the precursor to the French Blue—and subsequently the Hope Diamond.
3
King Louis XV’s Order of the Golden Fleece
In 1678, Louis XIV had his court jeweler, Jean Pitau, recut the Tavernier Blue into a 67.125 carat diamond, which became known as the French Blue.
Louis’ descendant, King Louis XV, had the French Blue set into a more elaborate jewelled pendant for the Order of the Golden Fleece by court jeweler André Jacquemin.
The assembled piece included a red spinel of 107 carats shaped as a dragon breathing “covetous flames”, as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to suggest a fleece shape.
King Louis XV died of smallpox at the Palace of Versailles.
The diamond became the property of his grandson, the ill-fated Louis XVI.
Image credit: Francoisfarges.
- By mousumi