IN the late 18th century, Louis XVI of France declared platinum 'the only metal fit for kings', after his royal goldsmith Marc-Etienne Janety fashioned a platinum-and-glass sugar bowl now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, US. Janety was one of the first European silversmiths to master this mysterious metal. In doing so, he set in motion a trend for dazzling platinum designs that transformed the contents of jewellery boxes for centuries to come.
Not only is platinum one of the world's rarest metals, it is also prized for its hardness, brilliance, malleability and resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Ancient Egyptians used platinum-laced gold in burial artefacts and pre-Columbian civilisations worked with platinum alloys. But Spanish conquistadors regarded it as an impurity-naming it platina or 'little silver'. In the 16th century, Italian scholar Julius Caesar Scaliger wrote about a new-found metal 'which no fire nor any Spanish artifice has yet been able to liquefy'. In 1748, in his first observations of platinum, Spanish naval officer Antonio de Ulloa dismissed it as a hindrance that interfered with gold mining. Two years later, British scientist William Brownrigg's detailed account of Colombian platinum samples led to its identification as a new chemical element.
This story is from the May 25, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 25, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Too divine
Four actresses earn the plaudits this month, for parts ranging from Sarah Siddons to Charlotte Bronté
Stashed away
The vast collection of the late George Withers, encompassing everything from Prattware pot lids to barometers, doubles up as a guide to the mid-market collecting fancies of the past 60 years
Parsley of Macedon
Not quite a native, alexanders can taste like joss stick-tainted celery or sweetly spiced parsnips, depending on your method, warns John Wright
A hungry heart
A man who strove, sought and found, Wassily Kandinsky pioneered not one, but two artistic movements against the tumultuous backdrop of early-20thcentury Europe, as Holly Black relates
Royal favours
AFTER much speculation as to what might be the favourite flower Her of Elizabeth II, the truth was revealed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2019.
Smart thinking
A private family garden near Godalming in Surrey How does a garden design begin? With a lot of questions and by finding a central theme says James Alexander-Sinclair
Escape to the hills
These four houses in the county of Surrey can offer the best of both worlds: rural settings and easy access to London
A little help from your friends
Driven to distraction by paint charts? A colour consultant could be the answer for anyone befuddled by choosing the right hue
A (crab) apple a day
They may be too tart to eat, but crab apples can be made into all sorts of good things, from jellies to salves, and may even have been Adam and Eve's forbidden fruit, says Ian Morton
The sound of centuries past
The past 50 years have seen an energetic revival of the instruments that would have been played in Bach's day. Henrietta Bredin meets players fascinated by the noises Baroque composers would have heard