(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Only in portraits have I ever come across Pointed Star Cuts without girdle facets, but very few portrait painters have ever known enough about jewelry to reproduce gems with any degree of accuracy. Even J.H von Hefner-Alteneck, Professor of Design and Superintendent of the Bayerrisches Nationalmuseum, made a serious but very typical mistake. In his illustrated work on sixteenth-century jewelry, published in 1890, he reproduced a perfect drawing by Mielich but turned the regular Double Rosettes into groups of plain, three-facet Rose cuts—the design which, at the time he was writing, most closely resembled the earlier cut. With his background and training he should certainly have known better. But if someone of the calibre of Hefner-Alteneck was capable of making so glaring an error, how can one rely on details of jewelry by even the greatest portrait painters?
Certainly in Elizabethan portraits, Star Cuts, particularly those of exceptional size, may have been simply combinations of eight triangular diamonds, not unlike the eight-petalled Rosettes of the period. They were clearly inspired by the Pointed Star Cut, but had been created for show, following royal command. However, artists may also have been instructed to exaggerate the splendor of the jewels, as Holbein often did in his portraits of English royalty.
The accession of Elizabeth I to the English throne in 1558 was significant in the world of fashion. Magnificent jewelry, hitherto worn mainly by men, was now used more and more by women. In fact, from now on, opulent jewels gradually became the prerogative of queens. Although in her portrait (The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth 1 by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1575—National Portrait Gallery, London), pearls appear to overshadow Elizabeth’s other jewels, the three large Pointed Star Cut diamonds are the most important gems. I do not believe that any of the Star Cuts could have been sapphires, as is sometimes maintained. Portrait painters frequently painted diamonds with a bluish tinge. Certainly such diamond cuts existed and were favored, particularly by royalty, throughout the sixteenth century.
The diamonds in the brooch (A Gonzaga Princess by Frans Pourbus the Younger, c. 1605—Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence) are all pointed. The square and lozenge-shaped gems are of the Standard type, with four large facets in both crown and pavilion. The rectangular stones are normal Hogbacks. The eight round ones are Star Cuts. Four of the diamonds—assuming that they are correctly reproduced by the artist—were already out of date; their facets meet in a ridge, like basically faceted half-moons. All the gems appear to be pavilion-based and must surely have displayed attractive light effects.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
The Birth Of Modern Painting
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
5
Romantic mysticism, which budded with Fra Angelico, passed by Lippi to flower with all sweetness and beauty in the art of his pupil, Alessandro Filipepi, famed as Botticelli. Sandro Botticelli was born in Florence about 1447, and was first apprenticed to a goldsmith. To the end of his life he was a jeweler in colors, but owes little beside the name of Botticelli, by which we known him, to his goldsmith master, whom he soon left, to devote himself thenceforth entirely to painting. The thing that differentiates the art of Botticelli from that of all his predecessors is the intensely personal, even egotistical note that he strikes in all his work. The exquisite, delicate melancholy which pervades the expression, both of Christian saints and Pagan gods, in all his pictures, is his own, not theirs, as though he were sorry for them for being saints and gods, and so, by their very nature, deprived of all those ecstasies alike of faith and of doubt, of conviction and speculation, which are the compensating privileges of human imperfection.
The Italy of Botticelli was not the Italy of Fra Angelico. Beauty was no longer the handmaid of religion. The Church was no longer the only patron of art, nor were church walls the only outlet for artists. Cosimo de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent did not worry their painters with theological restrictions; it was beauty that they wanted. It was not till his master Lippi left Florence in 1467 to undertake a commission at Spoleto, that Botticelli began to develop his own individuality. Pictures before that date, as ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ in the National Gallery, reflect the art of Lippi. But as soon as the young painter was left alone in Florence, he mixed with other artists like the Pollaiuoli, who had greater knowledge of anatomy than Lippi, and his art made rapid progress. On another page is shown one of the most beautiful of these early works, ‘Judith with the Head of Holophernes’. Muscular action is finely expressed in the swinging stride of the maid who follows bearing the head of of the slain tyrant, while the heroine herself is depicted with all the fresh girlish charm of one of the young Florentine maids who frequented the artist’s studio. In the distance the great army of invasion is seen retreating in confusion through a spacious landscape.
Botticelli’s chief patron in Florence was not Lorenzo the Magnificent, but a distant kinsman of the Duke with the same name. For the villa at Castello, belonging to this younger Lorenzo de Medici, Botticelli painted a number of pictures, among them, about 1477, the famous ‘Primavera’. No more beautiful allegory of the coming of Spring has ever been painted than this picture. In the center Venus, the Goddess of Love, awaits Spring’s coming, with Cupid hovering over her. On her right are the Three Graces, with Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods; on her left gaily-decked Spring advances, gently pushed forward by Flora, the goddess of flowers, and by Zephyr, who personifies the mild west wind. Where’er she treads the flowers spring to life. Beautiful as an interpretation of old Greek legends, which make a human story out of all the phenomena of Nature, this picture is also an expression of the revived pagan delight in physical form which was typical of fifteenth century Florence.
The fame of this and other pictures by Botticelli spread to Rome, whither in 1481 he was summoned by the Pope to assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, where three great frescoes, the ‘History of Moses’, ‘Destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,’ and ‘Temptation of Christ’, remain to this day as a monument of his skill, his energy, and his sense of drama and beauty. After two years in Rome, Botticelli returned to Florence, where, in 1483, he painted the most exquisite of all his Madonnas, ‘The Magnificat’. But the happy days of the painter were drawing to an end. After the death of Lorenzo in 1492 and the accession of his worthless son Piero, Florence was agitated by political troubles; and to that city, tired of pleasure and weary of knowledge, came Girolamo Savonarola, the great reformer priest.
When the Medici were expelled from Florence, the young Lorenzo went with them, and Botticelli lost his best patron. During these tumultuous years Botticelli devoted much of his time to executing a wonder series of illustrations to Dante, the originals of which are still preserved in Vatican Library and the Berlin Museum. These drawings reveal not only an intimate knowledge of the great poem, but also a profound sympathy with the feelings of the poet. Savonarola preached and Botticelli listened, though happily he did not follow the example of some of his contemporaries, and burn his earlier pictures of pagan subjects. Though his brother Simone, who lived with him in these later years, was a fanatical disciple of Savanarola, Sandro himself does not appear to have been wholly converted till the great preacher in turn became the victim of the fury of a fickle populace.
In the same year (1498) in which Savanarola was burned at the stake in the Piazza della Signoria, Botticelli painted his great picture, ‘The Calumny of Apelles’. This work, had a double purpose. Nominally it was an attempt to reproduce a famous lost picture, Calumny, by the ancient Greek painter Apelles, from the description of it given by the Greek writer Lucian. But we can have little doubt that the inward and spiritual meaning of this picture, which shows black-robed Calumny (or according to another interpretation, Remorse) slinking from the radiant presence of the naked Truth, was directed against the calumniators of the martyred friar. Among all Botticelli’s pictures this painting is distinguished by its exquisite finish and richness of detail, and we may regard it as the last great expression of his powers both as a classic and a humanist. Distressed both by the disturbed state of his native city and by the tragic end of Savanoralo, Botticelli fretted himself into melancholia during his last years. The few religious pictures of this period which remain—many of them probably finished by pupils after the master’s death—contain a strange exaggeration of gesture and facial expression, and an almost theatrical vehemence of action, which are entirely foreign to the poetical fantasies of his earlier manner. As an example of the high-strung emotions of his last years, ‘The Mourning of Christ’ may be compared in these pages with the serene tranquility of Botticelli’s early and middle-period work. The happiest painting of his last period is the little ‘Nativity’ in the National Gallery.
5
Romantic mysticism, which budded with Fra Angelico, passed by Lippi to flower with all sweetness and beauty in the art of his pupil, Alessandro Filipepi, famed as Botticelli. Sandro Botticelli was born in Florence about 1447, and was first apprenticed to a goldsmith. To the end of his life he was a jeweler in colors, but owes little beside the name of Botticelli, by which we known him, to his goldsmith master, whom he soon left, to devote himself thenceforth entirely to painting. The thing that differentiates the art of Botticelli from that of all his predecessors is the intensely personal, even egotistical note that he strikes in all his work. The exquisite, delicate melancholy which pervades the expression, both of Christian saints and Pagan gods, in all his pictures, is his own, not theirs, as though he were sorry for them for being saints and gods, and so, by their very nature, deprived of all those ecstasies alike of faith and of doubt, of conviction and speculation, which are the compensating privileges of human imperfection.
The Italy of Botticelli was not the Italy of Fra Angelico. Beauty was no longer the handmaid of religion. The Church was no longer the only patron of art, nor were church walls the only outlet for artists. Cosimo de Medici and Lorenzo the Magnificent did not worry their painters with theological restrictions; it was beauty that they wanted. It was not till his master Lippi left Florence in 1467 to undertake a commission at Spoleto, that Botticelli began to develop his own individuality. Pictures before that date, as ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ in the National Gallery, reflect the art of Lippi. But as soon as the young painter was left alone in Florence, he mixed with other artists like the Pollaiuoli, who had greater knowledge of anatomy than Lippi, and his art made rapid progress. On another page is shown one of the most beautiful of these early works, ‘Judith with the Head of Holophernes’. Muscular action is finely expressed in the swinging stride of the maid who follows bearing the head of of the slain tyrant, while the heroine herself is depicted with all the fresh girlish charm of one of the young Florentine maids who frequented the artist’s studio. In the distance the great army of invasion is seen retreating in confusion through a spacious landscape.
Botticelli’s chief patron in Florence was not Lorenzo the Magnificent, but a distant kinsman of the Duke with the same name. For the villa at Castello, belonging to this younger Lorenzo de Medici, Botticelli painted a number of pictures, among them, about 1477, the famous ‘Primavera’. No more beautiful allegory of the coming of Spring has ever been painted than this picture. In the center Venus, the Goddess of Love, awaits Spring’s coming, with Cupid hovering over her. On her right are the Three Graces, with Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods; on her left gaily-decked Spring advances, gently pushed forward by Flora, the goddess of flowers, and by Zephyr, who personifies the mild west wind. Where’er she treads the flowers spring to life. Beautiful as an interpretation of old Greek legends, which make a human story out of all the phenomena of Nature, this picture is also an expression of the revived pagan delight in physical form which was typical of fifteenth century Florence.
The fame of this and other pictures by Botticelli spread to Rome, whither in 1481 he was summoned by the Pope to assist in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel, where three great frescoes, the ‘History of Moses’, ‘Destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,’ and ‘Temptation of Christ’, remain to this day as a monument of his skill, his energy, and his sense of drama and beauty. After two years in Rome, Botticelli returned to Florence, where, in 1483, he painted the most exquisite of all his Madonnas, ‘The Magnificat’. But the happy days of the painter were drawing to an end. After the death of Lorenzo in 1492 and the accession of his worthless son Piero, Florence was agitated by political troubles; and to that city, tired of pleasure and weary of knowledge, came Girolamo Savonarola, the great reformer priest.
When the Medici were expelled from Florence, the young Lorenzo went with them, and Botticelli lost his best patron. During these tumultuous years Botticelli devoted much of his time to executing a wonder series of illustrations to Dante, the originals of which are still preserved in Vatican Library and the Berlin Museum. These drawings reveal not only an intimate knowledge of the great poem, but also a profound sympathy with the feelings of the poet. Savonarola preached and Botticelli listened, though happily he did not follow the example of some of his contemporaries, and burn his earlier pictures of pagan subjects. Though his brother Simone, who lived with him in these later years, was a fanatical disciple of Savanarola, Sandro himself does not appear to have been wholly converted till the great preacher in turn became the victim of the fury of a fickle populace.
In the same year (1498) in which Savanarola was burned at the stake in the Piazza della Signoria, Botticelli painted his great picture, ‘The Calumny of Apelles’. This work, had a double purpose. Nominally it was an attempt to reproduce a famous lost picture, Calumny, by the ancient Greek painter Apelles, from the description of it given by the Greek writer Lucian. But we can have little doubt that the inward and spiritual meaning of this picture, which shows black-robed Calumny (or according to another interpretation, Remorse) slinking from the radiant presence of the naked Truth, was directed against the calumniators of the martyred friar. Among all Botticelli’s pictures this painting is distinguished by its exquisite finish and richness of detail, and we may regard it as the last great expression of his powers both as a classic and a humanist. Distressed both by the disturbed state of his native city and by the tragic end of Savanoralo, Botticelli fretted himself into melancholia during his last years. The few religious pictures of this period which remain—many of them probably finished by pupils after the master’s death—contain a strange exaggeration of gesture and facial expression, and an almost theatrical vehemence of action, which are entirely foreign to the poetical fantasies of his earlier manner. As an example of the high-strung emotions of his last years, ‘The Mourning of Christ’ may be compared in these pages with the serene tranquility of Botticelli’s early and middle-period work. The happiest painting of his last period is the little ‘Nativity’ in the National Gallery.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
How Basic Are Behavioral Biases? Evidence From Capuchin Monkey Trading Behavior
A recent study published by a group of researchers at Yale University, titled, 'How Basic Are Behavioral Biases? Evidence From Capuchin Monkey Trading Behavior' is interesting + educational. Jewelers/gem dealers/gemologists/art dealers may want to read the report @
http://www.som.yale.edu/Faculty/keith.chen/papers/Final_JPE06.pdf
http://www.som.yale.edu/Faculty/keith.chen/papers/Final_JPE06.pdf
Hollywood Takes Action Hero Jesus To India
(via The Guardian) Randeep Ramesh writes about the Aquarian Gospel + a $20m movie, which portrays Jesus as a holy man and teacher inspired by a myriad of eastern religions in India + a fantasy action adventure account of Jesus's life with the three wise men as his mentors + commercial and spiritual gains from the concept + other viewpoints @ http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2213087,00.html
Net Gains
Carly Berwick writes about interactive, computer-based artworks + a general acceptance of the genre + other viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1226
A Swashbuckling Tale Of 10th-century Adventure
Ishaan Tharoor writes about 'The Adventures of Amir Hamza' + its Persian/Arabian roots + the blending of Sufi Islam and the mythological repertoire of the older strains of Hinduism + the religious element + other viewpoints @ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1684204,00.html
Mon Oncle d'Amérique
Mon Oncle d'Amérique (1980)
Directed by: Alain Resnais
Screenplay: Jean Gruault
Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia
(via YouTube): Mon oncle d'Amerique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7AfY-ux7Ds
It's entertaining + illustrative + experimental + a form of movie fun.
Directed by: Alain Resnais
Screenplay: Jean Gruault
Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia
(via YouTube): Mon oncle d'Amerique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7AfY-ux7Ds
It's entertaining + illustrative + experimental + a form of movie fun.
Ancient Jade Study Sheds Light On Sea Trade
Tan Ee Lyn writes about ancient jade artifacts in museums across southeast Asia + the sea trade patterns dating back 5,000 years + analytical studies via X-ray spectrometers + other viewpoints @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071119/sc_nm/jade_asia_dc
Nay Win Tun: Burma's Gem Stone Tycoon
Wai Moe writes about Nay Win Tun, the CEO of Ruby Dragon Jade & Gems Co Ltd, a young businessman in his early 40s, who controls Burma’s largest gem trading business + other viewpoints @ http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9164
A Rare Red Diamond
According to the Christie's, a rare purplish-red diamond ring has sold (British jeweler, Laurence Graff, bought the ring) for 2.97 million Swiss francs ($2.6 million), setting a world record for a red diamond. For photo and details see Christie’s and Reuters.
The Birth Of Modern Painting
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
4
In the expression of feeling, the most famous follower of Fra Angelico was Fra Filippo Lippi, but if unable to attain the etheral spirituality of Angelico his art was full of humanity and delicacy. His Madonnas belong to Florence rather than to heaven and reveal the painter’s fine feeling for feminine beauty more obviously than his piety. He was a genial painter, and in his comfortable satisfaction with the things of this life he shared with Angelico a love of flowers. ‘No one draws such lilies or such daisies as Lippi,’ wrote Ruskin. ‘Botticelli beat him afterwards in roses, but never in lilies.’
Lippi’s geniality is very evident in his ‘Annunciation’. The figures are human, the scene is homely, characteristics generally suggestive of the Dutch painters of a much later generation.
Fra Angelico and Fra Lippi stand for the imaginative development that followed the death of Giotto. In the other direction, the first great advance in the rendering of physical nature is found in the painting of Paolo Uccello, who first introduced perspective into pictures. Uccello was far more interested in the technical problems of foreshortening and perspective than in anything else. Uccello represents the scientific spirit in the air of the Florence of Cosmo de Medici, where not only artists, but mathematicians, anatomists, and great scholars were congregated. Among his achievements must be reckoned the recommencement of profane painting by his invention of the battle picture, a subject in which he had no predecessor and no successor till a century later. His early battle piece, the ‘Sant Egidio’, amuses us by the rocking horse appearance of the horses. In his absorption with technique, Uccello was indifferent then to realistic accuracy. Truths of color did not interest him—he painted horses red. The third dimension in space, which Giotto could only suggest experimentally and symbolically, was conquered by Uccello, who clearly separated the planes in which his figures move and have their being. Roses, oranges, and hedges were drawn with botanical precision, and no pains were spared to draw branches and even leaves in correct perspective. The splendid realism to which Uccello ultimately attained is best represented by the intensely alive animal and its rider. Uccello’s equestrian portrait of the English mercenary John Hawkwood in the cathedral of Florence is a milestone in the history of art.
The Birth Of Modern Painting (continued)
4
In the expression of feeling, the most famous follower of Fra Angelico was Fra Filippo Lippi, but if unable to attain the etheral spirituality of Angelico his art was full of humanity and delicacy. His Madonnas belong to Florence rather than to heaven and reveal the painter’s fine feeling for feminine beauty more obviously than his piety. He was a genial painter, and in his comfortable satisfaction with the things of this life he shared with Angelico a love of flowers. ‘No one draws such lilies or such daisies as Lippi,’ wrote Ruskin. ‘Botticelli beat him afterwards in roses, but never in lilies.’
Lippi’s geniality is very evident in his ‘Annunciation’. The figures are human, the scene is homely, characteristics generally suggestive of the Dutch painters of a much later generation.
Fra Angelico and Fra Lippi stand for the imaginative development that followed the death of Giotto. In the other direction, the first great advance in the rendering of physical nature is found in the painting of Paolo Uccello, who first introduced perspective into pictures. Uccello was far more interested in the technical problems of foreshortening and perspective than in anything else. Uccello represents the scientific spirit in the air of the Florence of Cosmo de Medici, where not only artists, but mathematicians, anatomists, and great scholars were congregated. Among his achievements must be reckoned the recommencement of profane painting by his invention of the battle picture, a subject in which he had no predecessor and no successor till a century later. His early battle piece, the ‘Sant Egidio’, amuses us by the rocking horse appearance of the horses. In his absorption with technique, Uccello was indifferent then to realistic accuracy. Truths of color did not interest him—he painted horses red. The third dimension in space, which Giotto could only suggest experimentally and symbolically, was conquered by Uccello, who clearly separated the planes in which his figures move and have their being. Roses, oranges, and hedges were drawn with botanical precision, and no pains were spared to draw branches and even leaves in correct perspective. The splendid realism to which Uccello ultimately attained is best represented by the intensely alive animal and its rider. Uccello’s equestrian portrait of the English mercenary John Hawkwood in the cathedral of Florence is a milestone in the history of art.
The Birth Of Modern Painting (continued)
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India
Rule for ascertaining the proper price of a diamond of whatsover weight it may be, from 3 up to and above 100 carats
(via Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India / V Ball / Edited by William Crooke)
I do not mention diamonds below 3 carats, their price being sufficiently well known. It is first necessary to ascertain the weight of the diamond, and next to see it is perfect, whether it is a thick stone, square-shaped, and having all its angles perfect; whether it is of a beautiful white water, and bright, without points, and without flaws. It if is a stone cut into facettes, which is ordinarily called ‘a rose’, it is necessary to observe whether the form is truly round or oval; whether the stone is well-spread, and whether it is not a lumpy stone; and, moreover, whether it is of uniform water, and is without points and flaws, as I described the thick stone.
A stone of this quality, weighing 1 carat, is worth 150 livres or more, and supposing it is required to know the value of a stone of 12 carats of the same degree of perfection, this is how it is to be ascertained: square the 12, this amounts to 144; next multiply 144 by 150, i.e the price of 1 carat, and it amounts to 21,6000 livres—12 x 12 x 150 = 21600. This is the price of a diamond of 12 carats.
But it is not enough to know the price of only perfect diamonds, one must know also the price of those which are not so; this is ascertained by the same rule, and on the basis of the price of a stone of 1 carat. This is an example: suppose a diamond of 15 carats which is not perfect, the water being not good, or the stone badly shaped, or full of spots or flaws. A diamond of the same nature, of the weight of 1 carat, would not be worth more than 60 or 80 or 100 livres at the most, according to the beauty of the diamond. You must then square the weight of the diamond, i.e 15 carats, and next multiply the product 125 by the value of the stone of 1 carat, which may for example be 80 livres, and the product, which is 10000 livres, is the price of the diamond of 15 carats.
It is easy to see from this the great difference in value between a perfect stone and one which is not so. For if this stone of 15 carats had been perfect, the second multiplication would be by 150, which is the price of a perfect stone of 1 carat, and then it would amount not to 10000 livres, but to 33750 livres, i.e. to 23750 livres more than an imperfect diamond of the same weight.
According to this rule, the following is the value of the two largest among the cut stones in the world—one of them in Asia belong to the Great Mogul, the other in Europe belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany—as will be seen by the subjoined figures.
The Great Mogul’s diamond weighs 278 9/16 carats, is of perfect water, good form, and has only a small flaw which is in the edge of the basal circumference of the stone. Except for this flaw the first carat would be placed at 160 livres, but on that account I do not estimate it at more than 150, and so calculated according to the above given rule it reaches the sum of 11,723,278 livres, 14 sols, and 3 liards. If this diamond only weighed 279 carats, it would have been worth 11,679,150 livres only, and thus these 9/16ths are worth 47,128 livres, 14 sols, 3 liards.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany’s diamond weighs 139½ carats, is clear, and of good form, cut on all sides into facettes, and as the water tends somewhat to a citron color, I estimate the first carat at only 135 livres, from which the value of the diamond ought to be 2.608,335 livres.
In concluding the remarks which I have made in this chapter, I should say that in the language of the miners the diamond is called iri; that in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic it is called almas, and that in all the languages of Europe it has no other name than diamond.
This, then, in a few words is all that I have been able to discover with my own eyes in regard to this subject during the several journeys which I made to the mines; and if by chance some other has written or spoken of them before me, it can only have been from the reports which I have made of them.
(via Jean-Baptiste Tavernier’s Travels In India / V Ball / Edited by William Crooke)
I do not mention diamonds below 3 carats, their price being sufficiently well known. It is first necessary to ascertain the weight of the diamond, and next to see it is perfect, whether it is a thick stone, square-shaped, and having all its angles perfect; whether it is of a beautiful white water, and bright, without points, and without flaws. It if is a stone cut into facettes, which is ordinarily called ‘a rose’, it is necessary to observe whether the form is truly round or oval; whether the stone is well-spread, and whether it is not a lumpy stone; and, moreover, whether it is of uniform water, and is without points and flaws, as I described the thick stone.
A stone of this quality, weighing 1 carat, is worth 150 livres or more, and supposing it is required to know the value of a stone of 12 carats of the same degree of perfection, this is how it is to be ascertained: square the 12, this amounts to 144; next multiply 144 by 150, i.e the price of 1 carat, and it amounts to 21,6000 livres—12 x 12 x 150 = 21600. This is the price of a diamond of 12 carats.
But it is not enough to know the price of only perfect diamonds, one must know also the price of those which are not so; this is ascertained by the same rule, and on the basis of the price of a stone of 1 carat. This is an example: suppose a diamond of 15 carats which is not perfect, the water being not good, or the stone badly shaped, or full of spots or flaws. A diamond of the same nature, of the weight of 1 carat, would not be worth more than 60 or 80 or 100 livres at the most, according to the beauty of the diamond. You must then square the weight of the diamond, i.e 15 carats, and next multiply the product 125 by the value of the stone of 1 carat, which may for example be 80 livres, and the product, which is 10000 livres, is the price of the diamond of 15 carats.
It is easy to see from this the great difference in value between a perfect stone and one which is not so. For if this stone of 15 carats had been perfect, the second multiplication would be by 150, which is the price of a perfect stone of 1 carat, and then it would amount not to 10000 livres, but to 33750 livres, i.e. to 23750 livres more than an imperfect diamond of the same weight.
According to this rule, the following is the value of the two largest among the cut stones in the world—one of them in Asia belong to the Great Mogul, the other in Europe belonging to the Grand Duke of Tuscany—as will be seen by the subjoined figures.
The Great Mogul’s diamond weighs 278 9/16 carats, is of perfect water, good form, and has only a small flaw which is in the edge of the basal circumference of the stone. Except for this flaw the first carat would be placed at 160 livres, but on that account I do not estimate it at more than 150, and so calculated according to the above given rule it reaches the sum of 11,723,278 livres, 14 sols, and 3 liards. If this diamond only weighed 279 carats, it would have been worth 11,679,150 livres only, and thus these 9/16ths are worth 47,128 livres, 14 sols, 3 liards.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany’s diamond weighs 139½ carats, is clear, and of good form, cut on all sides into facettes, and as the water tends somewhat to a citron color, I estimate the first carat at only 135 livres, from which the value of the diamond ought to be 2.608,335 livres.
In concluding the remarks which I have made in this chapter, I should say that in the language of the miners the diamond is called iri; that in Turkish, Persian, and Arabic it is called almas, and that in all the languages of Europe it has no other name than diamond.
This, then, in a few words is all that I have been able to discover with my own eyes in regard to this subject during the several journeys which I made to the mines; and if by chance some other has written or spoken of them before me, it can only have been from the reports which I have made of them.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
What Do I Want From A Gemstone?
I want surprises in my gemstones. A beginning and end. I don't want clarity. I like peaks and valleys. Good gemstones, bad gemstones, the perfect and flawed. Every gemstone is a story.
Bag Lady
Megha Bahree writes about Anita Ahuja, the creator of Conserve, a Delhi nonprofit organization + other viewpoints @ http://members.forbes.com/global/2007/1126/029.html
Dizzy In Boomtown
The Economist writes about the boom in emerging economies and their stockmarkets + pros and cons + the alarming memories of the early 1990s + other viewpoints @ http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10136509
I think the analysis should be a wake-up call for emerging markets like India and China. Vast capital inflows can harm economies in several ways. Not only can they inflate asset bubbles and spur excessive borrowing, but they can also cause a steep rise in the exchange rate, damaging the competitiveness of export sectors.
I think the analysis should be a wake-up call for emerging markets like India and China. Vast capital inflows can harm economies in several ways. Not only can they inflate asset bubbles and spur excessive borrowing, but they can also cause a steep rise in the exchange rate, damaging the competitiveness of export sectors.
Persona
Persona (1966)
Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
(via YouTube): Persona - Ingmar Bergman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeehCG9oF4c
A Bergman masterpiece. A great scene.
Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
Screenplay: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann, Margaretha Krook, Gunnar Björnstrand
(via YouTube): Persona - Ingmar Bergman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeehCG9oF4c
A Bergman masterpiece. A great scene.
Tutankhamun's Treasures
(via The Guardian): Egyptologist Zahi Hawass introduces the new Tutankhamun exhibition at London's O2 @ http://arts.guardian.co.uk/video/2007/nov/14/tutankhamun.arts
How Our Critics Spoke
(via ARTnews correspondents): Different viewpoints @ http://artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1215
Madagascar's Sapphire Rush
Jonny Hogg writes about the town of Ilakaka in Madagascar + it's reputation for being one of the most dangerous places in the country because of sapphires + other viewpoints @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7098213.stm
Raising Awareness And Helping The Coral
(via Bangkok Post, November 18, 2007) Corals are now like plants: cuttings can be grown in a nursery, then transplanted elsewhere. Transplanting coral is exactly what conservation-minded people will be doing at Phi Phi Lae on December 3 as part of the celebrations to mark the 80th birthday of His Majesty the King. Organized by the Phuket Marine Biological Center, the celebrations also include an exhibition on marine conservation, reef cleanup and rubbish collecting on the beach at Phi Phi Don, the only populated island in the Phi Phi group, off Krabi.
‘Coral reefs at Phi Phi Lae were among the worst hit by tsunami in 2004,’ Dr Nalinee Thongtham, who heads PNBC’s coral reef rehabilation programmes, said. ‘We grew tiny coral fragments in floating nurseries off Phi Phi Lae and now they are big enough to be transplanted. Volunteer divers from local diving companies will help us transplant them on December 3.
‘The advantage of growing coral fragments in nurseries and transplanting them on natural substrate is that you don’t introduce a lot of foreign matter to the sea floor. What’s more, taking small fragments causes little effect on donor colonies.’
Phi Phi Lae is a small, uninhabited island, popular with tourists because of its clear blue waters and coral reefs. ‘It’s not the first time that we are planting coral in the area to replace that destroyed by the tsunami,’ Nalinee said. ‘In October last year we transplanted 1200 fragments at Phi Phi Lae, again with help from local diving companies as well as volunteer divers from Bangkok and elsewhere.
‘Growing coral fragments in floating nurseries is part of a research programme we started two years ago. The transplanted coral that was part of that research programme is now thriving. Organizing the activities at Phi Phi Lae and Phi Phi Do n on December 3 is one way of getting the public involved in coral and reef conservation, and increasing environmental awareness.’
The PNBC will also transplant coral grown in nurseries at Panwa Bay at a later date. ‘It will be a pioneer project using a coral species that can better tolerate turbid waters and sediments,’ Nalinee said.
‘Coral reefs at Phi Phi Lae were among the worst hit by tsunami in 2004,’ Dr Nalinee Thongtham, who heads PNBC’s coral reef rehabilation programmes, said. ‘We grew tiny coral fragments in floating nurseries off Phi Phi Lae and now they are big enough to be transplanted. Volunteer divers from local diving companies will help us transplant them on December 3.
‘The advantage of growing coral fragments in nurseries and transplanting them on natural substrate is that you don’t introduce a lot of foreign matter to the sea floor. What’s more, taking small fragments causes little effect on donor colonies.’
Phi Phi Lae is a small, uninhabited island, popular with tourists because of its clear blue waters and coral reefs. ‘It’s not the first time that we are planting coral in the area to replace that destroyed by the tsunami,’ Nalinee said. ‘In October last year we transplanted 1200 fragments at Phi Phi Lae, again with help from local diving companies as well as volunteer divers from Bangkok and elsewhere.
‘Growing coral fragments in floating nurseries is part of a research programme we started two years ago. The transplanted coral that was part of that research programme is now thriving. Organizing the activities at Phi Phi Lae and Phi Phi Do n on December 3 is one way of getting the public involved in coral and reef conservation, and increasing environmental awareness.’
The PNBC will also transplant coral grown in nurseries at Panwa Bay at a later date. ‘It will be a pioneer project using a coral species that can better tolerate turbid waters and sediments,’ Nalinee said.
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