lood-red glowing garnet is one of the oldest known gemstones. Especially the high-quality garnets from Bohemia show a unique blaze of colour, which is typically amplified by combining a plurality of small stones in one piece of jewellery. The result is a dazzling display equal to any firework. Discover our brooches and necklaces made of garnet stars and blossoms, but also more rare objects like bracelets and rings!
Fine rings and brooches, so called fibulae, made from garnets mounted in gold were already known in late antiquity. Set closely together in the precious metal, Bohemian garnets enchanted the peoples of Europe as early as the 4th and 5th centuries. The numerous names given to the stone originate from this time. Whether as a “carbuncle”, derived from the Latin “carbunculus” and meaning “live coal”, or as “pyrope”, borrowed from Greek and meaning “fiery eye” – the deep red of the stone was always the determining factor in its name.
Towards the middle of the 19th century, Bohemian garnet was rediscovered. Its mysterious, romantic appearance pleased the citizens of the time. Its festive yet non-intrusive light suited their desire to distance themselves from the nobility, who continued to flaunt the Rococo style of the Ancien Régime. As a middle-class and yet precious stone, necklaces and brooches made of garnet soon decorated ladies and parlours everywhere.
Yet it was an empress who definitively defined garnet as a noble stone: Elisabeth “Sissi” of Austria received a large parure made of garnet as a gift from her Bohemian subjects. When she wore it in Viennese society, it was she who finally made the stone presentable at the pinnacle of society.
