Red rhodolite garnet

Garnets are exceptionally beautiful gemstones. They come in many colours: red, yellow, green, brown and even colourless. Red garnet, or rhodolite, is the best known. The most special are the orange mandarin garnet, the purple royal garnet and the green tsavorite. Celine Roelens works with beautiful garnets in every colour in her collections, carefully selecting the most remarkable specimens.

The name "garnet" comes from the medieval Latin granatus, meaning "pomegranate", a reference to the similar red colour. Garnet was already used in jewellery in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and ancient Rome.

The Smithsonian Institution, one of the world's most prestigious museums and research centres, holds an antique hairpin topped with a large rose-cut garnet. The pyrope garnets adorning this tiara-like jewel came from the historic mines of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), and these red gems were extremely popular during the Victorian era (1837-1901), when the piece was made.