NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amongst the Earth’s rarest and most beautiful creations are precious stones, in which beauty not only remains undiminished with time but accumulates history. Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History features the most significant and famous pieces of gems and minerals in the world; the esteemed collection includes the deep blue Hope Diamond, Napoleon Diamond Necklace, Marie Antoinette’s Earrings, Inquisition Necklace. The melding of creation – first the natural process that occurred more than a billion years ago that formulated these stones which are then taken and crafted by artisans into a new creation – thickens the layer of history and lore into the precious stones as they pass through human hands.

Cindy Chao’s 2009 Royal Butterfly Brooch perfectly exemplifies this melding of creation, her detailed masterpiece entailing over 2 years time. Heralding a unique usage of rough diamonds, her work representing a breakthrough in the art of jewelry craftsmanship. The annual creation of an iconic butterfly symbolizes the ongoing metamorphosis in the advancement of Cindy Chao’s craftsmanship and techniques in utilizing rare gemstones. The vibrant “Royal Butterfly,” is balanced by a pair of rough diamonds on the scales; features more than 20 color gradients, precisely 2,318 diamonds, colored diamonds, color-changing sapphires, colored sapphires, rubies, and tsavorites, meticulously set on both the front and back.

In 2010 this classic piece was inducted by the National Museum of Natural History, the world’s largest educational and research museum complex serving as the global beacon for the diffusion of public knowledge. This contemporary art jewel was created not only of the hopes of the artist that this art can be appreciated in a new medium, but will also inspires people to dream and create, always continue to contribute to the evolution of culture and the world around them.

ABOUT SMITHSONIAN

Situated in Washington D.C., the capital of the United States, the National Museum of Natural History is the world’s preeminent museum and research complex as well as one of the most visited natural history museums in the world. The institution was founded from bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson 1835 and the museum opened in 1910 dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world’s most extensive collection of 126 million natural history specimens and cultural artifacts.

For more information on the Smithsonian Institute please visit http://www.si.edu/. For more information about the National Museum of Natural History please visit http://www.mnh.si.edu/

ABOUT CINDY CHAO THE ART JEWEL

CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel was founded in 2004 featuring hand sculpted custom-made fine jewelry. Growing up surrounded by her family’s sculptural creations and blueprints for construction of thousands of temples across Taiwan, Cindy fused both influences based on principles of past centuries’ craftsmanship of wax molding into her unique renderings that are exclusively experienced in world premier auction houses and museums.

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