Single Or Plain Pointed Star Cuts

(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:

Only in portraits have I ever come across Pointed Star Cuts without girdle facets, but very few portrait painters have ever known enough about jewelry to reproduce gems with any degree of accuracy. Even J.H von Hefner-Alteneck, Professor of Design and Superintendent of the Bayerrisches Nationalmuseum, made a serious but very typical mistake. In his illustrated work on sixteenth-century jewelry, published in 1890, he reproduced a perfect drawing by Mielich but turned the regular Double Rosettes into groups of plain, three-facet Rose cuts—the design which, at the time he was writing, most closely resembled the earlier cut. With his background and training he should certainly have known better. But if someone of the calibre of Hefner-Alteneck was capable of making so glaring an error, how can one rely on details of jewelry by even the greatest portrait painters?

Certainly in Elizabethan portraits, Star Cuts, particularly those of exceptional size, may have been simply combinations of eight triangular diamonds, not unlike the eight-petalled Rosettes of the period. They were clearly inspired by the Pointed Star Cut, but had been created for show, following royal command. However, artists may also have been instructed to exaggerate the splendor of the jewels, as Holbein often did in his portraits of English royalty.

The accession of Elizabeth I to the English throne in 1558 was significant in the world of fashion. Magnificent jewelry, hitherto worn mainly by men, was now used more and more by women. In fact, from now on, opulent jewels gradually became the prerogative of queens. Although in her portrait (The Phoenix Portrait of Elizabeth 1 by Nicholas Hilliard, c. 1575—National Portrait Gallery, London), pearls appear to overshadow Elizabeth’s other jewels, the three large Pointed Star Cut diamonds are the most important gems. I do not believe that any of the Star Cuts could have been sapphires, as is sometimes maintained. Portrait painters frequently painted diamonds with a bluish tinge. Certainly such diamond cuts existed and were favored, particularly by royalty, throughout the sixteenth century.

The diamonds in the brooch (A Gonzaga Princess by Frans Pourbus the Younger, c. 1605—Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti, Florence) are all pointed. The square and lozenge-shaped gems are of the Standard type, with four large facets in both crown and pavilion. The rectangular stones are normal Hogbacks. The eight round ones are Star Cuts. Four of the diamonds—assuming that they are correctly reproduced by the artist—were already out of date; their facets meet in a ridge, like basically faceted half-moons. All the gems appear to be pavilion-based and must surely have displayed attractive light effects.