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‘Rubies’ Goes on Display at Harvard Museum
The exhibition reveals the gemology, geology, and cultural history of the iconic red gemstone.
“The Soul of Flame II” brooch designed by Austy Lee is an 18-karat rose gold and red enamel butterfly set with unheated Mozambican rubies as well as fancy-color and white diamonds. It is the centerpiece of “Rubies,” a new exhibition on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Cambridge, Mass.—An exhibition highlighting rubies is on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
“Rubies” features more than twenty pieces, including natural crystals from a dozen countries, as well as loose gemstones and finished jewelry.
Together, they tell the story of how the trace element chromium gives ruby its color and ability to fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
In marble-hosted deposits, such as those of Myanmar, low levels of iron allow the chromium to glow with intensity, while basalt-hosted deposits yield rubies with deeper, more subdued tones, the museum said.
Today, the most productive ruby source is in Mozambique.
The exhibition also shows how the stone’s inner world, such as inclusions, growth zoning, and rutile “silk” needles, can reveal where it formed.
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“Rubies” features more than twenty pieces, including natural crystals from a dozen countries, as well as loose gemstones and finished jewelry.
Together, they tell the story of how the trace element chromium gives ruby its color and ability to fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
In marble-hosted deposits, such as those of Myanmar, low levels of iron allow the chromium to glow with intensity, while basalt-hosted deposits yield rubies with deeper, more subdued tones, the museum said.
Today, the most productive ruby source is in Mozambique.
The exhibition also shows how the stone’s inner world, such as inclusions, growth zoning, and rutile “silk” needles, can reveal where it formed.
The exhibition is a show about gemology, geology, and cultural history, the museum said.
The stone, the red variety of the mineral corundum, has long stood as a symbol of rarity, passion, and power.
The Hebrew Bible declared that “the price of wisdom is beyond rubies,” casting the gem as the ultimate measure of worth, representing both material wealth and human ideals, according to the museum.
Highlights of the exhibit include the show’s centerpiece, “The Soul of Flame II” brooch designed by Austy Lee (seen at the top of the article).
From the designer’s “Ikhor” collection, the butterfly jewel contains unheated Mozambican rubies as well as fancy-color and white diamonds in 18-karat rose gold with red enamel.
The museum noted that in ancient Greek, psyche means both “butterfly” and “soul.”
There are also star ruby rings, including a 13.55-carat and a 2.80-carat stone, showing asterism, an optical phenomenon where rutile inclusions create a six-rayed star pattern.
The exhibition also contains a pair of trapiche ruby earrings from Pakistan displaying the rare spoke-like growth pattern, as well as stones from Mogok Valley in Myanmar, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Tanzania, Nepal, Macedonia, Australia, Thailand, Kenya, Pakistan, and Propst Farm in North Carolina.
“Rubies” was curated by Raquel Alonso-Perez.
It is on display in the Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery until at least Dec. 31, 2026.
The pieces on display were loaned by Pala International, Somewhere in the Rainbow, and a private donor.
The exhibit also features pieces from Harvard’s Mineralogical and Geological Museum collection, which includes more than 300,000 mineral specimens, according to a Harvard Gazette article.
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