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The exhibition features dozens of breathtaking gems and jewels on loan from public and private collections all over the world.
Austria
Schatzkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna
The collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum are amongst the most important and spectacular in the world. Many of the treasures were assembled by the Hapsburgs, for centuries enthusiastic patrons and collectors. The 16th-century Kunst- and Wunderkammer (art and treasure chambers) of Archduke Ferdinand and Emperor Rudolph II, together with the baroque collections of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, form the nucleus of the Museum’s magnificent collections, in which the taste and artistic preferences of these and other connoisseurs of the imperial family are still discernible today, thus conveying a sense of the imperial glory of the art-loving Hapsburg dynasty.
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| Corsage ornament
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Belgium
Diamond Museum, Antwerp
The Diamond Museum, situated in the heart of Antwerp’s diamond district, showcases the special world of diamonds. An exciting voyage of discovery along the path travelled by the diamond, from a rough diamond to a diamond tool or the brilliance of diamond jewellery.
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La plume de Cyrano brooch |
Canada
Many world-famous institutions and jewellers will be taking part in the exhibition, including the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, the Musée de l’Amérique française, the Musée du Québec, Brinkhaus Jewellers, Alberta, and Birks.
France
The mineralogy laboratory houses one of the world’s largest collections of minerals and meteorites.
Germany
Grünes Gewölbe [Green vault]
Between 1723 and 1729, under the orders of August the Strong, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, the vaults situated in the western wing of Dresden’s palace were transformed into a museum of treasures and opened to the public. The official name of this set of rooms was Die Geheime Verwahrung [The secret keep], but because some parts of it had originally been green it soon became known as the “Green Vault.”
The objects assembled there were masterpieces created by jewellers and goldsmiths, along with outstanding works of art of ivory and cut gems, and precious bronze statuettes. Wartime destruction left the collection homeless, but since 1974 its most valuable treasures have been on display in Albertinum Palace.
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Bangle/brooch |
South Africa
The first recorded discovery of an authentic diamond in Africa occurred some time between December 1866 and February 1867 in a gravel deposit on the De Kalk farm, located on the southern bank of the Orange River, about 50 km northwest of Hopetown and about 700 km northeast of Cape Town. The stone, fittingly named the « Eureka » was subsequently cut into a 10.73-carat diamond.
Switzerland
The House of Cartier, a true dynasty of style, elegance and fine craftsmanship, was founded in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, master jeweller to Europe’s crowned heads. By the early 20th century, his three grandsons, Louis, Jacques and Pierre, were successfully managing Cartier boutiques in Paris, London and New York.
United Kingdom
St. James’s Palace
The Royal Collection is one of the finest art collections in the world. It comprises paintings and drawings, furniture, porcelain, silver, sculpture, jewellery, books, arms and armour, and textiles. It is held in trust by The Queen as Sovereign for her successors and for the nation, and is not owned by her as a private individual.
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| Butterfly hair ornement
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United States of America
The exhibition will feature many pieces from the collections of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, as well as from Tiffany & Co., Neil Lane Jewelers, the Pierpont Morgan Library, Aurora Gems Inc., Ralph Esmerian, Suberi Brothers Inc., and the Yehuda Diamonds Co.
Vatican City
The founding of the Vatican museums can be traced back to 1503 when the newly elected pope, Julius II della Rovere, placed a statue of Apollo in the inner courtyard of the Belvedere Palace built by Innocent VIII; he brought the statue from the garden of his titular church of St. Peter in Chains. In 1506 the Laocoön was added to the collection after its discovery on Esquiline Hill, as witnessed by Giuliano di Sangallo and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Scores of artifacts were added over the next two centuries and the collections were eventually reorganized under Benedict XIV (1740-1758) and Clement XIII (1758-1769). They founded the Apostolic Library museums: the Museo Sacro (1756) and the Museo Profano (1767).
Portugal
With the discovery of the sea route to India, Lisbon became the great Western emporium into which the exotic merchandise of Goa sailed in an endless convoy, the pre-eminent market for oriental goods. The trade in raw materials and luxury goods, especially gems, ivory and precious metals, soon attracted foreign goldsmiths and jewellers who, with their craftsmanship, enriched still further the ancestral traditions of Portuguese jewellery. The most important collection of jewellery is preserved in the National Museum of Ancient Art and the National Palace, Ajuda.
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