Lot Essay
“The third rank among gemstones is assigned for
Smaragdi. Several reasons to the ‘smaragdus.’ Certainly,
no colour has a more pleasing appearance. For although
we gaze eagerly at young plants and at leaves, we look at
‘smaragdi’ with all the more pleasure because, compared
with them, there is nothing whatsoever that is more
intensely green. Moreover, they alone of gems, when we
look at them intently, satisfy the eye without cloying it.”
- Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book XXXVII
Smaragdi. Several reasons to the ‘smaragdus.’ Certainly,
no colour has a more pleasing appearance. For although
we gaze eagerly at young plants and at leaves, we look at
‘smaragdi’ with all the more pleasure because, compared
with them, there is nothing whatsoever that is more
intensely green. Moreover, they alone of gems, when we
look at them intently, satisfy the eye without cloying it.”
- Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book XXXVII