Porphyry Vase with Eagle Head, from Les Gemmes et joyaux de la couronne [The Gems and Crown Jewels], vol. 1

Illustrated with etchings by Jules Jacquemart so detailed and realistic that they rival photographs, the two-volume Les Gemmes series documents sixty objects from among the French crown jewels at the Louvre. At the time of its publication in 1865, the collection remained intact; many of the treasures were sold off in 1885 by the Third Republic. The collection contained crowns, scepters, jewels, and other symbols of royal power made between 752 and 1825. French archaeologist and art historian Henry Barbet de Jouy (1812–1896) authored the text that accompanies Jacquemart’s plates. More than an art historian’s attempt to catalog individual objects, Les Gemmes sought to locate the origins of France’s artistic and national identity in its medieval past. 

The vase made of porphyry (a hard, reddish-purple stone) is also known as “Suger’s Eagle” after its most famous owner. Abbot Suger is widely credited as the inventor of the Gothic style of architecture thanks to his renovations of the royal church of Saint-Denis between 1137 and 1144. The Abbot had the ancient Egyptian porphyry vessel mounted within a gilded silver eagle and it was long displayed with other royal regalia in the treasury of Saint-Denis.