(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The early Gothic types of flat-bottomed diamonds gradually gave way to a new design inspired by the Baroque style in art and architecture. The early type was simply called ‘faceted’. The new style was described as Rose Cut, a term which was then applied to both the Gothic and the Baroque flat-bottomed diamond. The name “Rose’ was used, confusingly, both for these flat-bottomed single gems and for the combinations of pave-set small diamonds. My suggestions for updating the terminology of the sequence from basic forms to full-cut designs are as follows:
1. Chips or Splinters: These were used only for the most primitive, poor quality, flat-bottomed gems. Because of their flatness and the small number of irregular, randomly distributed facets, they lacked the fascination demanded of a diamond and consequently seldom found a market. During the Gothic period they were usually rejected altogether and often simply ground into powder.
2. Chiffres: These are still used for inexpensive jewelry, but only in small sizes. Slight polishing gives them the form of a flattish triangular pyramid with rounded edges. If thick enough, they can be rounded by bruting into three-facet Roses. This form is also still in use.
3. Six-facet Roses: If these had hexagonal outlines they kept the same form as they had in earlier days. If they were very flat they were often called mode-roses (vlakke or vlake Moderoozen in Dutch). Like the Chiffres, they were occasionally rounded. More often they were crowned, becoming, in fact, kruinige Moderoozen, an intermediate step on the way to full cut Crowned Rose Cuts.
4. Crowned or Twelve-facet Roses: The twelve-facet Rose represents the initial stage of the Baroque Rose, an innovation which radically changed the design of flat-bottomed diamonds. This basic shape was found to produce some brilliance but, like the modern single-cut diamond, there are only sufficient facets if the stone is very small. The facets are stepped to produce a Crowned Rose with a brilliance superior to that of trihedral Roses, but with no fire.
The great center for the manufacture of this type of diamond was Antwerp, but it was also produced in Brabant, where cutters who had left Antwerp to escape taxation had established themselves. Another center was Charleroi, to the south of Antwerp. Twelve-facet Roses were often named after Antwerp or Brabant, and occasionally after Charleroi.
Twelve-facet Roses were usually further fashioned into:
5. Eighteen-facet Roses: These were originally produced in Amsterdam and were fairly popular during the nineteenth century but are now considered to be incomplete Rose Cuts, comparable to the old ‘double-cut’ diamonds defined under Complementary Cuts.
6. Twenty-four facet Angular and Regular Full Rose Cuts: The former are called ‘angular’ because no rounding has been done, so that they retain a twelve-sided outline with a knife-sharp girdle. In other words, they are completely fashioned apart from rounding. Since Roses are hardly ever absolutely circular and their outline is, in any case, hidden by the setting, the angular type is included only to indicate that Full Rose Cuts are not always properly finished.
The earliest documented piece of jewelry which contains Full Rose Cuts is the ‘Fellowship Pendant’ in the Grϋnes Gewölbe, Dresden. Originally there were three pendants belonging to the ‘Fellowship of Fraternal Love and Friendship’. Established in 1594 by Frederick William, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, Administrator of the Electoral House of Saxony for the three youngest sons of Christian I. The only surviving pendant (the other two were probably handed over to the Wettinian family in 1924) is in such perfect condition that it looks as if it has never been worn. The Full Rose Cut diamonds are certainly not later replacements and therefore probably date from as early as the end of the sixteenth century. There are three Roses, one at the top and one on each side of the frame. The square-cut diamond below the pendant is a Mirror Cut. The diamond close to the eyelet is simply a fragment of what might have been a basically faceted Gothic Rose. Thomas Cletscher (c. 1625) reproduced an enormous number of illustrations of these ‘modern’ Full Rose Cuts, undoubtedly achieved by cleaving. The earliest reference to cleaving, however, as Eric Bruton says, appears to have been made by Tavernier in the original French edition of his book published in 1676.
At first, full Rose Cuts tended to be rather flat, because thicker rough was fashioned into the contemporary Taille en Seize. Only when the latter went out of fashion did Rose Cuts become higher, often very high. Examples can be seen on the crown of Queen Louisa Ulrica of Sweden, dating from 1751 and all set with Regular Full Rose Cuts; on the epaulette of the French King Louis XV, and on the shoulder knot of Augustus the Strong.
In the nineteenth century most of these high Roses were refashioned into Brilliants. Rose Cuts as principal gems lost their great popularity, but the demand for small, flat and therefore inexpensive Roses increased enormously. These were mainly designed to embellish informal jewels.
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