The Single Rosette

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

The Pyramidal Point Cut was in fashion for at least three centuries, until it was gradually replaced by square and rectangular Table Cuts. At the same time fancy shapes and cuts also became popular, with the result that the original four-petalled Rosettes developed more complex shapes, with anything from five to ten fan-shaped petals. The pointed ends of the fan-shaped stones which made up these Single Rosettes were held in place by a central gold knob, or under a setting containing a tiny emerald or some other colored precious stone. The wider, rounded end was partly hidden under the surrounding border, and prongs were placed between the diamonds. If the stones were not quite regular in shape, extra prongs were sometimes added.

A single ‘flower’ of small diamonds gave light effect not very much better than adamantine surface reflections, and size was usually limited to around 10mm, so Rosettes of this type were used mainly for romantic decorative details on large objects ďart such as the Munich crystal bowl and the St Michael Goblet. They were seldom used alone or as central ornaments.

A five petalled rosette, based on one from the bridal crown of Princess Margaret, dating from 1468 (now in the Domshatz, Aachen) was made up of regularly formed ‘wases’, fashioned from rock crystal. Obviously, diamonds of exactly the same shape and size could not be found in sufficient quantities and they had to be fashioned from suitable cleavages. This called for very special skills, and for diamond cutters who could produce large quantities of stones and then select matching ones for all the different types of Rosette. It would have be prohibitive, as experiments have shown, to fashion one Rosette at a time.

The bridal crown of Margaret, daughter of King Edward VI of England, appears to be the earliest surviving object to contain single Rosettes. It was probably made for her wedding to Charles the Bold in 1468 and Fritz Falk believes that it came from the workshop of a Burgundian jeweler.

The St Michael Goblet is decorated with five five-petalled, five six-petalled and two seven-petalled Single Rosettes, as well as other interesting gems. The stones are actually set very close to one another, so that they almost touch.

Rosettes were not always fashioned with diamonds. Rubies, spinels and amethysts were also used. A statuette reproduced in color in Codex Aschaffenburg, with a long accompanying text, has two red single rosettes, one of them clearly nine-petalled; it is dated 1513. Among the numerous colored illustrations in the inventory of monastic objects from Halle, in Germany, are some beautiful reproductions of fifteenth and sixteenth century diamond cuts. Many of these are diamond or ruby Rosettes mostly five-petalled; a few are even Double Rosettes. An angel in the Codex Aschaffenburg has a diamond Rosette on each shoulder and a number of ruby Rosettes on its dress; the accompanying text dates the statuette to 1518.

According to studies made in Prague and Venice by Hans R Hahnloser of Berne, the rock crystal bowl can be dated to before 1337 (now on display in Munich, as part of the Palatine Collection). The mounting, of enamelled gold, was commissioned by King Henry VIII of England, designed by Hans Holbein the Younger, and probably executed in France in about 1540. The richly ornamented setting is decorated with rubies, emeralds, pearls and diamonds, including five Single Diamond Rosettes. The bowl is 15cm high and 19cm in diameter. Careful investigations made using a needle confirmed that the adjacent stones were, in fact, the small fan-shaped petals of a diamond Rosette.

On a large cross in an oil painting on parchment attributed to Hans Mielich there are thirty four diamond rosettes. That admirable goldsmith and jewelry engraver, Etienne Delaune, also known as ‘Stephanus’, is said to have conceived his designs, not only to scale and in three dimensions, but with a totally professional understanding of the jeweler’s technique. The pendant probably dates from the period when he was working in Paris (possibly under Cellini) since he did not move to Strasbourg until 1573. These facts are relevant, because the components of this seven-petalled Single Rosette are exceptionally large and of a cut entirely different from that normally found. This suggests either that the diamonds actually existed or—more likely—that they were not diamonds at all but amethysts or some other colored stones.