In 1678 Louis XIV commissioned the Court Jeweller, Sieur Pitau, to recut the Tavernier Blue, resulting in a 67.125 carat 13.425g stone which royal inventories thereafter listed as the Blue Diamond of the Crown of France, but later English-speaking historians have simply called it the French Blue. The King had the stone set on acravat-pin. According to one report, Louis ordered Pitau to make him a piece to remember and Pitau took two years on the piece, resulting in a "triangular-shaped 69-carat gem the size of a pigeon egg that the breath away as it snared the light reflecting it back in bluish-grey rays" it was set in gold and was supported by a ribbon for the neck which was worn by the king during ceremonies.
At the diamond's dazzling heart was a sun with seven facets, the sun being Louis emblem, and seven being a number rich in meaning in biblical cosmology, indicating divinity and spirituality.
In 1749,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 Andre Jacquemin. The assembled piece included a red apinel 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. But the piece fell into disuse after the death of Louis XV. the diamond became the property of his grandson King Louis XV. During the reign of her husband, Marie-Antoinette used many French Crown Jewels for personal adomment by having the individual gems placed into new setting and combinations, but the French Blue remained in this pendant except for a brief time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by Mathurin Jacques Brisson and returned to its setting soon thereafter. On september 11, 1792, while Louis XVI and his family were confined in the Palais des Tuileries near the Place de la Concorde during the early stages of the French Revolution a group of thieves broke into the Garde Meuble and stole most of the Crown jewels during a five day looting spree. While many jwewls were later recovered, including other pieces of the Order ot the Golden Fleece, the French Blue was not among them and it disappeared temporarily from history. In 1793, Louis was guillotined in january and Marie was guillotined in October, and these beheadings are commonly cited as a result of the diamonds "curse" but the historical record suggests that Marie Antoinette had never woen the Golden Fleece pendant because it had been reserved for the exclusive use of the king.
A likely svenario is that the French Blue or sometimes also known as the Blue Diamond, was swiftly smuggled to London after being seized in 1792 in Paris. But the exact rock known as the French Blue was never seen again, since it alsmost certainly was recut during this decades long period of anonymity, probaby into two pieces, and the larger one became the Hope Diamond. One report suggested that the cut was a butchered job because it sheared off 23.5 carats from the larger rock as well as hurting its extraordinary luster. It had long been believed that the Hope Diamond had been cut from the French Blue until confirmation finally happened when a three dimensional leaden model of the latter was rediscovered in the archives of the French Natural HIstory Museum in Paris in 2005. Previously, the dimensions of the French Blur had been known only from two drawings made in 1749 and 1789, although the model slightly from the drawings in some details these details are identical to features of the Hope Diamond, allowing CAD technology to digitally reconstruct the French Blur around the recut stone. Historians suggested that one robber, Cadet Guillot, took several jewels including the French Blue as well as the Cote-de-Bretagns spinel and others to Le Havre and then to London where the French Blue was cut into two pies. Morel adds that in 1796, Guillot attempted to resell the Sote-de-Bretagne in France but was forced to relinquish it to a fellow thief, lancry de la Loyelle, who put Guillot in to debtors prison.
At the diamond's dazzling heart was a sun with seven facets, the sun being Louis emblem, and seven being a number rich in meaning in biblical cosmology, indicating divinity and spirituality.
In 1749,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 Andre Jacquemin. The assembled piece included a red apinel 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. But the piece fell into disuse after the death of Louis XV. the diamond became the property of his grandson King Louis XV. During the reign of her husband, Marie-Antoinette used many French Crown Jewels for personal adomment by having the individual gems placed into new setting and combinations, but the French Blue remained in this pendant except for a brief time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by Mathurin Jacques Brisson and returned to its setting soon thereafter. On september 11, 1792, while Louis XVI and his family were confined in the Palais des Tuileries near the Place de la Concorde during the early stages of the French Revolution a group of thieves broke into the Garde Meuble and stole most of the Crown jewels during a five day looting spree. While many jwewls were later recovered, including other pieces of the Order ot the Golden Fleece, the French Blue was not among them and it disappeared temporarily from history. In 1793, Louis was guillotined in january and Marie was guillotined in October, and these beheadings are commonly cited as a result of the diamonds "curse" but the historical record suggests that Marie Antoinette had never woen the Golden Fleece pendant because it had been reserved for the exclusive use of the king.
A likely svenario is that the French Blue or sometimes also known as the Blue Diamond, was swiftly smuggled to London after being seized in 1792 in Paris. But the exact rock known as the French Blue was never seen again, since it alsmost certainly was recut during this decades long period of anonymity, probaby into two pieces, and the larger one became the Hope Diamond. One report suggested that the cut was a butchered job because it sheared off 23.5 carats from the larger rock as well as hurting its extraordinary luster. It had long been believed that the Hope Diamond had been cut from the French Blue until confirmation finally happened when a three dimensional leaden model of the latter was rediscovered in the archives of the French Natural HIstory Museum in Paris in 2005. Previously, the dimensions of the French Blur had been known only from two drawings made in 1749 and 1789, although the model slightly from the drawings in some details these details are identical to features of the Hope Diamond, allowing CAD technology to digitally reconstruct the French Blur around the recut stone. Historians suggested that one robber, Cadet Guillot, took several jewels including the French Blue as well as the Cote-de-Bretagns spinel and others to Le Havre and then to London where the French Blue was cut into two pies. Morel adds that in 1796, Guillot attempted to resell the Sote-de-Bretagne in France but was forced to relinquish it to a fellow thief, lancry de la Loyelle, who put Guillot in to debtors prison.
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