Lectures

17 February 2026 - Lecture: “Sentimental Jewellery”, in conjunction with the exhibition Joyaux dynastiques

Event held in conjunction with the exhibition Joyaux dynastiques

Sentimental Jewellery

Tuesday, 17 February 2026, at 7 p.m.

Speaker: Capucine Juncker, jewellery historian

From princely wedding bands exchanged in private to badges of favour displayed in the full ceremonial of the court, dynastic jewels form a distinctive vocabulary of sovereign sentiment. This lecture will examine these jewels of sentiment – rings, brooches, portrait miniatures, decorations – which, beyond their material value, give form and legibility to attachment, loyalty, reconciliation and mourning within Europe’s royal households.
Grounded in the study of the pieces on display, court archives and official portraiture, this talk will trace a history in which conjugal intimacy becomes visible within the theatre of power and dynastic politics.

***

From 10 December 2025 to 6 April 2026, the Al Thani Collection at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris hosts the third exhibition organised in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Following earlier editions devoted to medieval and Renaissance art, this new chapter brings together major works from the history of jewellery.

Highlighting the role of jewels as emblems of power and prestige, while also underscoring their sentimental resonance and their function as marks of royal favour, the exhibition assembles rare and refined pieces. Many are associated with the reigns and reputations of some of Europe’s most eminent historical figures — including Empress Catherine the Great, Empress Joséphine and Queen Victoria.
From legendary gemstones to the most spectacular historic parures — tiaras, necklaces and brooches — Dynastic Jewels presents sumptuous creations designed for the ceremonial splendour of Europe’s royal courts, where they reflected rank, lineage and influence.

The exhibition is organised by the Al Thani Collection Foundation and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Curated by Dr Emma Edwards, Project Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Al Thani Collection Foundation and the Centre des monuments nationaux in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Lecture Series

Tuesday, 13 January 2026, 7 p.m.
Precious Stones and Gemmology, with Eloïse Gaillou, Director of the Musée de Minéralogie, École des Mines.

Tuesday, 17 February 2026, 7 p.m.
Sentimental Jewellery, with Capucine Juncker, jewellery historian.

Tuesday, 31 March 2026, 7 p.m.
Jewels as Expressions of Power, with Amin Jaffer, Director of the Al Thani Collection, and Paul Paradis, art historian and professor at the École des Arts Joailliers.

Practical Information

Hôtel de la Marine
2 Place de la Concorde
75008 Paris, France

Free admission upon reservation
https://www.hotel-de-la-marine.paris

Open to all
Duration: 1 hour

Advance booking required; places are limited.
This ticket does not grant access to the museum’s visitor routes.

Joyaux dynastiques
Edited volume directed by: Emma Edwards.
Authors: Amin Jaffer, Capucine Juncker, Emma Edwards, Helen Molesworth, Vivienne Becker.
Hardback, 288 pages (240 pages in French + 48 pages in English), €42.
ISBN 978-2-7577-1087-6

by Capucine Juncker

GemGenève – May 8, 2025. Roundtable: The Diamonds of Golconda

What do the Hope and the Koh-i-Noor have in common? The Regent and the Orlov?
They are all diamonds from Golconda.
Why have these stones, extracted from the ancient mines of the Deccan in India, become legendary?

On the occasion of the GemGenève – International Gem & Jewellery Show, which will take place in Geneva from May 8 to 11, 2025, an exceptional panel discussion will be devoted to the Golconda diamonds.

The event, scheduled for May 8 from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm and moderated by Gabrielle de Montmorin, will bring together two complementary perspectives:
– the rigorous scientific approach of the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF), presenting the current state of knowledge on the physical and chemical characteristics of these diamonds and examining the criteria for identifying a "Golconda" stone;
– and the documented historical approach, retracing the trajectories of these gems from antiquity to their place in the royal collections of Europe.

This discussion will explore what the name "Golconda" encompasses today, at the crossroads of scientific analysis and historical legacy.

Speakers:

Gabrielle de Montmorin

Capucine Juncker

Dr. Michaël Mintrone

I will be delighted to meet you afterwards for a signing session of Diamonds of Golconda (Skira) at the Letubooks art bookstore, stand M-01, between 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm.

"In December 2008, the Wittelsbach was back at Christie’s of London, where it had failed to sell in 1931. This time, it brought in a record price of 16.4 million pounds. The buyer was the jeweller Laurence Graff.

The new owner soon announced his intention to retouch the gem, which in his opinion had been damaged by the passage of time. This idea outraged many experts and historians, who believed that the original baroque cut was an inherent part of the diamond’s identity. Photographs taken by Christie’s in 1930 also showed that the diamond was almost perfectly cut, providing a wealth of information about the art of diamond cutting in the 17th century. The appraisals by experts in 1963 prior to its resale attested to its extremely high quality. One museum director went so far as to say that it was like “painting over a Rembrandt in a reckless effort to increase its market value”.

Laurence Graff was not moved by these protests. The result he obtained after repolishing was a loss of four and a half carats (from 35.56 to 31.06) but a much better degree of colour, going from ’fancy deep greyish blue’ to ’fancy deep blue’. The jeweller renamed this diamond the ’Wittelsbach-Graff’. It was exhibited in 2010 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, then sold to an anonymous Chinese buyer for an estimated five times its purchase price at Christie’s."

In Diamonds of Golconda, Wittelsbach-Graff, p. 180-181.

***

GemGenève
Edition du 8 au 11 mai 2025
Palexpo Halle 1
Route Francois-Peyrot 30
1218 – Le Grand-Saconnex GE
Switzerland

Letubooks, librairie d’art

Letubooks, librairie d’art
Rue Jean Calvin 2ter
CH - 1204 Genève
arts@letubooks.com
+41 (0)22 310 47 57

SWISS GEMMOLOGICAL INSTITUTE SSEF 
Aeschengraben 26
CH-4051 Basel
Switzerland
+41 61 262 06 40

Visuals: the Wittelsbach before and after recutting (Wittelsbach-Graff)

by Capucine Juncker

Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Mineral & Gem International Show

LE SYMPOSIUM programme 2017

Par 4 intervenants spécialisés
Langue : Français
Horaire : Vendredi 23 juin 2017 à 15h
Durée : 1h30
(capacité : 50 places)

Inscrit dans la continuité depuis 3 ans, Mineral & Gem vous propose un événement ouvert à tous et gratuit. Axée sur des informations scientifiques, cette rencontre de spécialistes et professionnels est une occasion unique de promouvoir et d’échanger sur divers sujets.

Cette année encore, quatre intervenants nous font l’honneur de participer à cette rencontre afin d’exposer leurs travaux en abordant les thèmes suivants :

- Du trésor des Grands Moghols aux extravagances des Maharajahs, Capucine Juncker, gemmologue et journaliste à propertyofalady.fr

Capucine Juncker proposera un aperçu de ce que fut la joaillerie en Inde du 16ème au 20ème siècle. Elle évoquera la symbolique des gemmes en Inde, les vertus talismaniques attachées à certaines pierres, et montrera que d’autres étaient des emblèmes de royauté. De l’Empire Moghol au Raj Britannique, vous découvrirez l’évolution des formes, des motifs et des techniques de la joaillerie indienne qui atteint son âge d’or quelques années avant la proclamation de l’Indépendance du sous-continent.

- Des cabinets des curiosités aux Musées, des collections aux sciences modernes, Cristiano Ferraris, conservateur au Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris

Cristiano Ferraris vous emmènera dans l’univers des cabinets des curiosités, réels environnements dans lesquels ont été conservés des objets rares, étranges ou extraordinaires qui font partie des trois règnes de la nature, mais aussi des réalisations humaines. S’ils étaient typiques au 16ème siècle par la redondance baroque, ils se transforment complètement au 18ème siècle. Cette intervention vous emmènera, à travers un voyage iconographique, aux plus célèbres cabinets de curiosité d’Europe vous permettant ainsi de comprendre ce phénomène, noyau historique des collections des plus célèbres Museums d’Histoire Naturelle.

- La collection de Sir Arthur Russell au Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Londres, Mike Rumsey, conservateur au Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Londres

Mike Rumsey évoquera la très célèbre collection de Sir Arthur Russel. Avec près de 14’000 spécimens, il s’agit probablement de la plus belle collection régionale jamais réalisée. Cette intervention sera l’occasion, à travers de riches illustrations, de partir à la découverte de la naissance de cette passion chez Sir Arthur Russel, mais également de revoir toute l’histoire de la construction de cette collection.

- Minéraux et volcans, Bertrand Devouard, président de la Société Française de Minéralogie et Cristallographie

Bertrand Devouard vous proposera un éclairage scientifique sur les conditions de formation des minéraux liés au volcanisme, thème de l’exposition prestige de cette édition.

Exceptée la conférence en anglais de Mike Rumsey, les interventions seront présentées en français.

Mineral & Gem
55è édition du 22 au 25 juin 2017

Catalogue 2017

by Capucine Juncker