Editing Hope Diamond (section)

=== France ===
[[File:Toison.jpg|thumb|upright|Gouache of the great Golden Fleece of King [[Louis XV of France]], version 1 of 2008, painted by [[Pascal Monney]] (c. 16 × 6 cm).]]

In 1678, Louis XIV commissioned the [[Royal court|court]] [[Jewellery|jeweler]] Jean Pitau to recut the Tavernier Blue, resulting in a {{convert|67.125|carat|g oz|adj=on}} stone<ref name=twsI44fof/> which royal inventories thereafter listed as the '''Blue Diamond of the Crown of France''' ({{langx|fr|diamant bleu de la Couronne de France}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farges |first=François |date=September 18, 2008 |title=Two new discoveries concerning the "diamant bleu de la Couronne" ("French Blue" diamond) at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris |url=http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701095543/http://mineralsciences.si.edu/abstracts/farges.htm |archive-date=July 1, 2014 |access-date=August 29, 2014 |publisher=Stanford University & Le Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle}}</ref>). Later English-speaking historians have simply called it the French Blue. The king had the stone set on a [[Cravat (early)|cravat]]-pin.<ref name="Morel, p.166">Morel, p. 166</ref>

According to one report, Louis ordered Pitau<ref>alternate possible name: Jean Pitau (1617–1676)</ref> to "make him a piece to remember", and Pitau worked for two years, resulting in a "triangular-shaped {{convert|69|carat|g oz|adj=on}} gem the size of a [[pigeon]]'s egg that took the breath away as it snared the light, reflecting it back in bluish-grey rays."<ref name=twsI44ll/> It was set in [[gold]] and was supported by a [[ribbon]] for the neck which was worn by the king during ceremonies.<ref name=twsI44fof/>

{{blockquote|At the diamond's dazzling heart was a sun with seven facets—the sun being Louis' emblem, and seven being a number rich in meaning in biblical cosmology, indicating divinity and spirituality.|report by Agence France-Presse, 2008<ref name=twsI44ll/>}}

[[File:Marie Antoinette Execution.jpg|thumb|[[Marie Antoinette]] before her public execution by [[guillotine]] on [[Place de la Concorde|''Place de la Révolution'']], on October 16, 1793.]]
In 1749, Louis XIV's great-grandson, [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]], had the French Blue set into a more elaborate jeweled [[pendant]] for the ''[[Order of the Golden Fleece]]'' by court jeweler André Jacquemin.<ref name=twsI44fof/> The assembled piece included a red [[spinel]] of {{convert|107|carat|g oz|adj=on}} carats shaped as a [[dragon]] breathing "covetous flames," as well as 83 red-painted diamonds and 112 yellow-painted diamonds to suggest a [[Wool|fleece]] shape.<ref name=twsI44ll/>

The piece fell into disuse after the death of Louis XV. The diamond became the property of his grandson [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]].<ref name="twsI44bb" /> whose wife, queen [[Marie Antoinette]], used many of the [[French Crown Jewels]] for personal adornment by having the individual gems placed in new settings and combinations, but the French Blue remained in this pendant (except for a brief time in 1787, when the stone was removed for scientific study by [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]]).