Jérémie Pauzié

Swiss-French jeweller, goldsmith, silversmith, memoirist. Born in Geneva in the family of French Huguenots Étienne Pauzié and Suzanne Bouverot (1716). Travelled with his father via Alsace, Westphalia, Amsterdam, Hamburg and St Petersburg to Moscow (1729), where his uncle Pierre Pauzié was a surgeon at the court of Peter II. Enlisted as a sergeant in the Vologda Regiment stationed at Arkhangelsk (1730–31). Returned to Moscow (1731) and moved to St Petersburg (1732), where he studied under Parisian court jeweller Benoît Gravereaux (1732–39) and opened a workshop (1740). Caught the attention of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1740) and received many commissions from members of the imperial family and aristocracy (1740s–50s). Appointed principal expert on diamonds by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1742) and court jeweller and brigadier by Peter III (1762). Designed the crown for the planned coronation of Peter III (1762) and collaborated with Georg Friedrich Eckart on the Great Imperial Crown for the coronation of Catherine the Great (1762). Forced to abandon his business in Russia due to the persistent refusal of his aristocratic customers to honour their debts (early 1760s). Returned with his pregnant Baltic German wife Madeleine-Marie Scalogne and three daughters to Geneva (1764), where he was elected a citizen (1770) and wrote a book of memoirs later translated into Russian and published in Russkaya starina (1870). Died in Geneva (1779). Contributed to exhibitions, including The Art of the Goldsmith & the Jeweler at A La Vieille Russie in New York (1968) and Carl Fabergé and Masters of Stone ?arving: Gem Masterpieces of Russia at the Dormition Belfry of the Moscow Kremlin Museums in Moscow (2011).