The State Historical Museum of Russia, with support from ALROSA, has opened the exhibition “Jeweler’s Notes – Diamond’s Story” which is open until January 15th, 2024, featuring 18th-century jewelry designed for the Russian Imperial family. The exhibition tells the story of the region’s jewelry by showcasing the rich collection of the royal family, which ruled the Russian Empire for more than 300 years.
Presenting 18th-century jewelry, accessories, and decorations created by the masters of the Russian Empire, the exhibition also features the works of contemporary jewelry artisans inspired by the rich heritage of Russian culture. According to the curators, the exhibition is a sociocultural program that aims to work with precious materials, retrace the traditions and continuity of jewelry art, study Russian jewelry, and revive the legacy of jewelry schools.

The exhibition “Jeweler’s Notes – Diamond’s Story” is a collaboration between the Museum and the jewelry company ALROSA, which recently launched the luxury jewelry brand Posié. The Posié brand takes its name from Jeremie Pauzié, a French-born designer and jeweler who made an outstanding contribution to developing the Russian school of jewelry art in the 18th century.

While working in St. Petersburg, the talented designer became famous for the numerous pieces of jewelry he created for the imperial family, their entourage, and court diplomats. As a court jeweler during the reigns of Anna Ioannovna, Elizabeth Petrovna, and Catherine the Great of Russia, Pauzié earned an outstanding reputation in the industry for his design, production techniques, and innovation.

One of his most famous jewelry pieces is the Great Imperial Crown, presented at the coronation of Catherine II in mid-1762. Inspired by Byzantine art, the designer created a crown composed of two hemispheres of gold and silver, separated by a diamond crown, symbolizing the Eastern Roman and Western Roman Empires. In 2012, ALROSA’s craftsmen created a replica of this priceless and monumental work of art, which is now in the care of the Diamond Fund in Kremlin, Moscow, and has become one of the most popular objects at the exhibition. The modern craftsmen used rhodium plated gold rather than silver and twice as many diamonds as the original.

One of the attractions of the exhibition is the first-ever collection of Posié jewelry created by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Dedicated to Russian fairy tales, each piece in the collection is inspired by rich Russian
folklore, which is reflected in the names of the jewelry. Examples of Russian folklore elements incorporated into the jewelry include the gold “Apple on a Platter” ring with 297 diamonds, the “Red Flower” necklace with 6 carats of yellow cushion-cut diamonds forming the heart of the flower, the “Red Flower” necklace with pavé-cut rubies on the petals, and the “Invisible Cap” tiara with 6.11 carats of marquise-cut diamonds set in titanium, a rare material in jewelry. For each piece of jewelry, ALROSA prepared a historic box painted by folklorist Maria Apalkova