Give me an amulet / That keeps intelligence with you, / Red when you love, and rosier red, /And when you love not, pale and blue.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Amulet

Humans have always ascribed special powers to precious stones. Pharaohs were buried with amulets and jewels to safeguard their journeys to the afterlife. Warriors since ancient times have worn rare gems for protection in battle (not always successfully, truth be told).

According to the 19th-century mineralogist and vice-president of Tiffany & Co., George Frederick Kunz, people of every class – “princes and peasants … the learned as well as the ignorant” – have credited jewels with “talismanic virtues”.

In the Middle Ages, and quite possibly since, gemstones were commonly believed to have senses and feelings – even magical gifts. “Success in love, together with the power to read the thoughts of others, was said to belong to the possessor of precious stones,” gemologist and historian Glenn Klein writes in Faceting History: Cutting Diamonds and Colored Stones.

At heart, however, the wearing of jewels has always been about status; displaying one’s wealth, success and refined taste.

The ancient Roman Republic frowned on such ostentatious displays, but the elites of the Roman Empire were notorious for flaunting their jewelled riches. In imperial China, mandarins signalled their status with dazzling stones; ruby and rubellite tourmaline for the highest-ranking officials, coral or garnet for second-tier bureaucrats, and lesser stones down the scale of social standing.

The mandarin customs are interesting because they codify colour, recognising it as a primary human emotional response to precious stones, and because they put red stones at the top of the pile.

Red rules the spectrum of jewels because it embodies so much of what defines us. It is linked variously with love – the romantic kind, as in Emerson’s The Amulet, but also divine love – as well as majesty, blood and fire.

The 16th-century Italian goldsmith and artist Benvenuto Cellini matched precious rocks to the elements – emerald to earth, sapphire to air, diamond to water and ruby, inevitably, to fire.

Bulgari and the colours of Rome

Red is a colour of “very strong emotions”, agrees Lucia Silvestri, creative director at the famed Italian jewellery house Bulgari. For her it is predominantly a symbol of passion.

“It is important for us because we are a brand with great passion.

“But when we talk about red we don’t talk only about rubies, which are the most important, rarest-coloured gems. We are talking also about rubellite, coral.”

Silvestri, who has presided over Bulgari’s design department for more than three decades, can’t remember a collection without red. It is one of the colours of Rome, (the other is yellow, and both feature on the city’s flag) and Bulgari’s inspiration is, above all, the Eternal City. “Rome, for me, is a city of inspiration,” says Silvestri. “Every collection is inspired by Rome.”

You can witness that inspiration – and the primacy of red – in creations from Bulgari’s current Festa high jewellery offering of more than 300 adornments and watches. The Cuore di Roma (Heart of Rome) platinum necklace is studded with diamonds, cultured pearls, 42 rubies and a centrepiece 12-carat ruby with a hue that reflects the red of the ancient capital’s ensign.

Bulgari’s Diva’s Dream fine jewellery collection, launching this September, is inspired by the mosaics at the Baths of Caracalla, Rome’s best-known thermae. The baths’ emblematic fan-shaped mosaics have been recreated in a tricolore of mother-of-pearl white, malachite green and carnelian red.

“Carnelian was very popular in Roman times, engraved,” says Silvestri. “It’s very beautiful on the skin … It’s something that we like very much.”

The Bulgari designer says she likes to play with different shades of red to balance the different “feelings” of the stones. “Like light and dark rubellite, for instance. Because when it’s too dark, I used to say that it’s not happy enough.”

Rubies return to Tiffanys

Red has also made a recent stunning return to Tiffany & Co. in the form of ethically sourced rubies. The finest specimens come from Myanmar; Burmese mines produce the highly prized “pigeon blood” rubies with a mesmerising purplish character that command the highest prices in the world. But Tiffany & Co. stopped importing rubies (and jade) from Myanmar in 2003, a socially responsible decision vindicated in 2008 when the United States government imposed tough sanctions on the ruling junta, including import bans on Burmese stones.

The sanctions were lifted in October 2016, but Tiffany has not bought back into Myanmar yet. “Tiffany will not be purchasing any gemstones from Burma in the immediate future until we can complete our due diligence and feel confident that our responsible mining and ethical sourcing standards are met,” says Tiffany & Co.’s chief gemologist Melvyn Kirtley.

In the meantime, good news: Tiffany has sourced exceptional red gems from Mozambique. Its new Enchant range features a signature dragonfly brooch with ruby-encrusted wings. And the latest bunch of emblematic Tiffany Keys – “symbol of all that has been accomplished and all there is to come” – are wrought elegantly in platinum with diamond details, and a faceted ruby “smouldering” in the heart of the key’s star-shaped motif.

Tiffany describes the key as being “almost talismanic in form … charged with a power created only by the one who wears it”.

Special powers, precious stones. The power of red.