Since deep antiquity, emerald – a precious stone that is a rare green variety of beryl – has been regarded with profound respect, almost as something magical. Emeralds were highly prized, competing even with diamonds.

A host of wonderful characteristics were attributed to emerald. The mineral was believed to be “the most attractive and highly valuable, possessing the power of benefit and success in any matter” and to “increase wealth”. The real-life and magical properties of emeralds have come down to us through legends and myths, as well as products of the jeweller’s art.

The Hermitage’s new exhibition project presents emerald articles produced by craftspeople in various lands over a period of several millennia. In the hall visitors can see various personal adornments, miniature sculptures, carved stones, snuffboxes, and examples of parade weapons. An indispensable part of the display is design drawings made by Saint Petersburg jewellers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition, arranged along chronological lines, tells about distinctive attitudes to emerald and methods of working this splendid mineral over the ages.

The display presents works by craftsmen of Classical Antiquity, rare pieces from the mediaeval period, jewellery from the Byzantine Empire and Early Rus’, in which emeralds play more than just a decorative role. The repertoire of subject matter and artistic methods employed by post-classical gem carvers allow visitors to enjoy wonders of skilled miniature working, the perfection in the lines, refined rhythm and depth of the images. The showcases contain pendants, rings from the 16th and 17th centuries, and pectoral crosses decorated with large numbers of emeralds of various shapes. One indisputable masterpiece is a Renaissance pendant in the shape of a caravel created by Spanish craftsmen. Eye-catching too are some splendid pieces created by jewellers of the East that were often among diplomatic gifts presented to the Russian court. The works of European gem-cutters of the middle and second half of the 18th century are extensively represented. There are timepieces, snuffboxes, rings, hairpins and other articles in which the refinement of the stone-cutting art is combined with the extravagance of the jewellers’ mastery. It was in the second half of the 19th century that the artistic working of emeralds attained its highest peak. However, the virtuoso sets of jewellery depicted in formal portraits of the imperial family did not become part of the museum collection and only the designs for pieces, which are included in the exhibition, allow us to picture the diversity, elegance and refinement in the combinations of stone and setting.

The exhibition has been prepared by the State Hermitage’s Department of Western European Applied Art.

The curator and author of the concept for the exhibition is Olga Grigoryevna Kostiuk, Candidate of Art Studies, head of the Department of Western European Applied Art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a colour illustrated catalogue (in Russian) – Bezmerno obozhaia izumrud (State Hermitage Publishing House, 2024).

The catalogue texts are written by Hermitage researchers: Yelena Arsentyeva ((In) smaragdo… Emeralds in antiquity); Ilya Akhmedov (The ensemble of gold jewellery with emeralds from the Pereshchepina treasure); Darya Vasilyeva (Emeralds in the lands of the Islamic east); L.K. Zolotova (On the presentation stone; Present-day emerald deposits); Svetlana Kokareva (The emerald in post-classical glyptics); Olga Kostiuk (Emeralds of the hermitage; Emeralds of the modern era); Alexandra Lukyanchikova (Design drawings by Saint Petersburg jewellers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries) and Yuri Pyatnitsky (The emerald spring of brilliant byzantium; Emeralds in the art of early rus).