The "Garden of Emeralds" Exhibition: Interview with Dr. Eloïse Gaillou, Director and Curator of the Mineralogy Museum of l'École des Mines de Paris (Mines Paris-PSL)

From May 25 to October 7, 2024, L'ÉCOLE China, School of Jewelry Arts (supported by Van Cleef & Arpels) presents the "Garden of Emeralds" exhibition in its Shanghai campus. As part of the "Discover the Gemstones" series, the exhibition gives pride to this green precious mineral and explores its history in many regions of the world, from Asia to Europe including the Middle East. Gathering both raw stones and pieces of jewelry from museum collections and private lenders, it addresses the topic through the three main pillars of L'ÉCOLE: gemmology, savoir-faire and the history of jewelry.

The Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL has loaned 17 representative emerald specimens to the exhibition. As one of the invited media, we have conducted an in-depth interview with Dr.Eloïse Gaillou, the curator of the museum, on the mission, history and museography of the museum, the exhibition, the collaboration between the museum and the school, the origin and the market of emeralds, etc., which has been compiled into this article.

Mission, History and Museography of the Museum

Dr. Gaillou introduced the mission, changes and museography of the museum during its long history. The Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL was first established in 1794 as "mineralogy cabinets" for the purpose of storage, preservation, conservation of all kinds of mineral products from all over the world. And the museum not only stores the mineral itself, but also the ores and everything extracted from the mines.

The museum started to hold exhibitions in 1855. One amazing thing that Dr. Gaillou told us was that, as exhibits, the specimens were kept in their original settings as of 1794, so the public not only can see the varied mineral specimens but also can feel the glory of the museum history. And the collection of the museum keeps expanding even till today. It tries to collect the largest variety with the most extensive species available on earth and is committed to show them to the public. As she said, "We have over 1 200 species on display. You can go to different museums but you can't see that many species compared with ours because a lot of museums have collections yet in the barn. However, we show them to the public." The museum has a collection of about 100 000 specimens and about 5 000 on display, mainly minerals, gems, meteorites and rocks. And it will present more in the future. It is not only a conservatory of species and a showcase of the richness of the mineral world, but also a place of research and education.

Educational Curation Program of the Museum

When asked whether the museum has any educational curation program (or education-oriented exhibition) and who conducts the exhibition, the educator or the curator, Dr. Gaillou said, the museum is within the School of Mines, but the university no longer teaches geology course. Therefore, it is the museum team who caters for the (regular) exhibitions. The museum team is very small, and sometimes they also welcome exhibits from outside. "We have a lot of artistic exhibits as well." she said, "For example, we have temporary exhibition with the mining industry who extracts limestone, invites and supports selected artists to create works with limestone in the museum. These artists will show what they have produced during their stay at the museum at the end of the year." She added, "We try to combine art and science at the museum."

Ecosystem and Macro Environment of Gemmology and Jewelry in Paris

The Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL is a very important and long-standing partner of L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts. Both the two are located in Paris, France. During the interview, Dr. Gaillou shared her thoughts about the ecosystem and macro environment of gemmology and jewelry in Paris and France in general. "Generally speaking, in France we're really lucky because we have old knowledge about gemstones in the first place. We used to have the oldest sapphires, which, for example, the king used to have. We have the knowledge about the rocks, the gemmology, and we have what we call the 'savoir-faire', which is the artwork." she said, "Paris is one of the centers of jewelry and it harbors laboratory work as well. There are large communities of gemmologists and jewelers, and they gather together during conferences and lectures." She added that being close to Switzerland is also an advantage.

Dr. Gaillou also shared the collaborations between the Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL and L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts. She told us that the collaboration between L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts and the Mineralogy Museum can be dated back to 2015 or 2016, shortly after the establishment of the school. "One goal of the museum is to show the whole process from the source to the final product, and that includes luxury goods, which is part of the industry and the school...and that's the reason we began the collaboration." said Dr. Gaillou. The school and the museum later developed more in-depth collaborations in specimen loaning and exhibitions.

And this time, for the "Garden of Emeralds" Exhibition, the Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL loaned a geologically significant emerald specimen which has never been loaned for exhibition at any other country, the emerald crystal on matrix, which is from Muzo Valley, Eastern Cordillera, Colombia. It possesses what is considered a perfect rough hexagonal crystal shape, a pure green hue and a "jardin" (garden in French) of inclusions.

Perspective of Using Geographic Names for Specific Colour

Recently, commercial gem labs started to use geographic names for specific colour grades, such as the "Muzo Green" in emerald. We inquired about the opinion of Dr. Gaillou on this practice. She shared very interesting thoughts from the perspective of a mineralogist and a gemmologist as well, which are quite different from each other. She said, "Mineralogists only acquire rocks and minerals when they know exactly the species and where they are from. If they don't know where the rocks and minerals are from, they will not be interested. But gemmology is the other way round. You have minerals inside the jewelry, but everything is lost when the stone is changed into the jewelry. So gem labs are asked to trace back where these rocks and minerals are from." For the geographic naming of colour grades, Dr. Gaillou thinks it's more of marketing than mineralogy or gemmology. "The market is asking the gemmologists to put names on things, and traders don't really care about where the minerals are from but the price...So that's the case for Muzo Green. It doesn't mean that it comes from Muzo, it only means that this is the perfect green colour they want."

Perspective of New Emerald Production Locations and Location Reports

While talking about emeralds, we also talked about the new emerald deposit locations and the cases that gem labs are starting to release more specific location reports for emeralds, and we consulted Dr. Gaillou about her view on this too. She mentioned some uncommon emerald locations such as Madagascar, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Malipo (in Yunan Province, China) etc. She particularly mentioned the Davdar deposit in Xinjiang, China. She said "Davdar is really interesting because it has the quality. The rocks are not big and the emeralds are not big, but the quality is there, the colour is there, and it looks very much like Columbian emeralds. A gem lab can make the difference, but by looking just at the inclusions, it's almost impossible to make the difference between Davdar and Muzo. You have to look at the trace elements to be able to make the difference." For small location reports, again she emphasizes that it is a market thing. "If it's China versus Muzo, Muzo is going to be more expensive than China or Zambia or Pakistan." However, she also said "A good stone is just a good stone. It doesn't matter where it comes from because the geology is pretty much the same. So for me, it's more about the stone itself than where it comes from."

At the end of the interview, we asked Dr. Gaillou what the collaborations between the L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts and the Mineralogy Museum of Mines Paris-PSL can bring to us in terms of jewelry. She said "I hope people have the opportunity to visit the school because the school shows to everyone the holistic process. What you see here is absolutely different from what you see in the shop with jewelry as the final product. As I was saying earlier, there is the history, there is mining, there is laboratory work, and there is the cutting work; there are the people who mould, and there are the people who design. And there are so many different jobs to make only one piece of jewelry. And here in the L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, we discover the stones and the different artworks. Therefore, I think it would make you appreciate it more than just the piece of jewelry; it would expand your mind as well about the different rocks that you use as jewelry. So I think, when you go through the school, you're going to appreciate more, and you're going to understand more. And I think you would appreciate more what you buy."

The "Garden of Emeralds" exhibition is also a special event of the 18^th edition of the Croisements Festival, celebrating the exchanges between Chinese and French art and culture institutes, which invites the public to enjoy the wonders of jewelry arts on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It has presented the aesthetics of emerald from varied perspectives commercially and academically. The specimens and jewelry collections, the exquisite crafts, the history and culture, and the academic symposiums that provide platform for communication and exchanges of viewpoints etc., all these have constructed a multi-dimensional exhibition form integrating theme, artistry and professionalism, and enhanced the sustainability and diversity of cultural communication through media innovation and technological change, and promoted cultural communication and exchange at home and abroad.

Many thanks to Dr. Gaillou for this interview and to L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts for providing us with the opportunity and venue. We are looking forward to more exhibitions with such wonderful themes!