Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
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Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveler. Traveling as a private merchant at his own expense, Tavernier estimated that he travelled 60,000 leagues in six voyages to
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in oriental costume, 1679
An illustration by Tavernier of Indians performing Yoga under a Banyan tree
Church and castle with its minaret-style tower, built in 1680 for Tavernier, at Aubonne, Switzerland
Tavernier's original sketch of the Tavernier Blue diamond
Tavernier Blue
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The Tavernier Blue was the precursor diamond to the Blue Diamond of the French Crown. Subsequently, most scholars and historians believed that it was re-cut and, after a disappearance and reemergence
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
…which he published as Les Six Voyages de Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (Six Voyages, 1676). Tavernier is best known for his 1666 purchase of the 116-carat Tavernier Blue diamond that he subsequently sold to Louis XIV in 1668 for 120,000 livres, the equivalent of 172,000 ounces of pure gold, and a letter of ennoblement…
The cubic zirconia replica of the Tavernier Blue diamond created by Scott Sucher
The lead model found at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle by Farges in Paris at the end of 2007 (approx. 31 × 26 mm)