A queer story has been told regarding the Genoese emerald. At one time when the government was hard pressed for money, the Sacro Catino was offered to a rich Jew of Metz as pledge for a loan of 100,000 crowns. He was loath to take it, as he probably recognized its spurious character, and when his Christian clients forced him to accept it under threats of dire vengeance in case of refusal, he protested that they were taking a base advantage of the unpopularity of his faith, since they could not find a Christian who would make the loan. However, when some years later the Genoese were ready to redeem this precious relic, they were much puzzled to learn that a half-dozen different persons claimed to have it in their possession, the fact being that the Jew had fabricated a number of copies which he had succeeded in pawning for large sums, assuring the lender in each case that the redemption of the pledge was certain.
Among the celebrated emeralds noted by George Agricola[388] (1490-1555) was a large one preserved in a monastery near Lyons, France. This is also mentioned by Gesner, who states that it was shaped as a dish, or shallow cup, and was held to be the Holy Grail, like its rival at Genoa.[389] Another of Agricola’s emeralds was somewhat smaller, but nevertheless measured nine inches in diameter and was in the chapel of St. Wenceslaus, at Prague; this may have been a chrysoprase, as at the present day many fine specimens of this stone can be seen in St. Wenceslaus, where the walls are inlaid with the golden green gem-stone. Still another, larger than the last named, was set in the gold monstrance in Magdeburg, and was believed to have been the handle of Emperor Otho I’s knife, since it was perforated. Possibly, however, the emerald, if genuine, was an Oriental stone, for it was customary to pierce rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc., in the East so as to string them for necklaces or attach them as pendants to a jewel.
In the convent-church of St. Stephan, in Persian Armenia, erected about the middle of the seventeenth century, it is related by the French traveller Tavernier that there was preserved a cross said to be made out of the basin in which Christ washed the feet of the Apostles. Set in this cross was a white stone, and the priests asserted that when the cross was laid upon the body of one seriously ill, this stone would turn black if he were about to die, but would regain its white hue after his death.[390]
No jewelled sacred image has been the object of greater reverence than has been accorded to the rude little wooden carving popularly known as the “Sacro Bambino” or “Sacred Baby,” in the old church of Ara Coeli in Rome. This figure was carved, in 1847, by a monk, out of a piece of olive-wood from one of the ancient trees growing on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. The carving was executed in the Holy Land and was sent thence to Italy, and although the ship bearing it was shipwrecked, this precious freight was miraculously preserved and is supposed to have been conveyed to its destination in some mysterious way. The reverence of the thousands of pilgrims who in the course of time have gazed with veneration upon this quaint and curious work of art, has found expression in the bestowal of a wealth of gems and jewels, including necklaces, brooches, rings, etc., with which the silken dress of the image is studded. A crown of gold adorned with precious stones rests upon the head of the olive-wood figure, which is jealously guarded by the priests and only shown to the faithful as a particular favor, except on the occasion of certain religious festivals.
One of the most renowned emeralds in the world surmounted the elaborately jewelled imperial crown that was placed upon the head of the venerated image of the Virgen del Sagrario in the Cathedral of Toledo. This emerald, of a rich green color, was cut as a perfect sphere and measured about 40 millimetres, or 1½ inches, in diameter. The crown itself was the work of the Toledan goldsmith, Don Diego Alejo de Montoya, who began his task in 1574 and devoted twelve years to its completion. It is described as being of almost pure gold and executed in the Renaissance style. Curiously chased in arabesque designs and enamelled in various colors, the framework of the crown served as a magnificent background for the gems constituting its adornment, which comprised rubies, emeralds, and Oriental pearls; a row of angels and cherubs sustained the arches which bore at their summit the allegorical figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity; upon that representing Faith rested the splendid emerald. This precious ornament was still preserved in the Cathedral in 1865, but was so carelessly guarded that it was stolen in 1869.[391]
If we are to believe the following anecdote, the emerald disappeared at an earlier date: It is said that in 1809, during the French occupation of Spain, Marshal Junot visited this cathedral, and the emerald was pointed out to him as one of the chief glories of the shrine. As soon as the marshal’s covetous glance rested upon the gem, he plucked it from its setting, remarking, coolly, to the astonished and horrified bystanders, “This belongs to me.” Then, smiling and bowing, he left the cathedral with the emerald safely ensconced in his waistcoat pocket. Later, it was replaced by an imitation in glass.
The famous collection of jewels gathered together in the treasury of the Santa Casa, at Loreto, Italy, was plundered during the French occupation in 1797, and all trace of most of the magnificent ornaments has been lost. These represented the gifts of many crowned heads and titled personages; among the former was the unfortunate Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, who donated a golden heart-shaped jewel with the words “Jesus Maria” incrusted in diamonds. This jewel is described as being “as big as both a man’s hands, opened onto two leaves, on one of which was the figure of the Blessed Virgin and on the other a portrait of the queen herself.”[392] Of the many rich vestments for decorating the statue of the Virgin in the sanctuary, the most splendid was the gift of the Infanta Isabel of Flanders, and was valued at 40,000 crowns. In a seventeenth-century account by an English traveller it is thus described:[393]
Its set thick with six rows of diamonds downe before, to the number of three thousand, and its all wrought over with a kinde of embroidery of little pearle set thick everywhere within the flowers with great round pearle, to the number twenty thousand pearles in all.
The same writer tells us the niche in which the statue was placed was bordered with a row of precious stones of great number, size, and value, the colors being so varied that this bordering formed “a rich Iris of several colors.” There is also said to have been a great pearl, set in gold, and engraved with the image of the Virgin and Child.[394] It seems probable that this was a jewel made of a baroque pearl, or pearls, completed by enamel-work so as to represent the sacred figures.
The pectoral cross worn in solemn processions by the prior of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial was adorned with eight perfect emeralds, five diamonds, and five pearls. From it hung a splendid pear-shaped pearl, the gift of Philip II in 1595, and one of the finest of those acquired by this monarch. In 1740 the cross was valued at 50,000 crowns, Philip’s great pearl not being included in this valuation.[395]