Table Cuts

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

The first consideration was always size. The cutters soon learned that they could retain display with one or more or even all of a diamond’s corners left blunt. The reason for these blunt corners was not, as some authors have claimed, that sharp corners were too fragile, but that they were part of a technique which left visible the largest possible area of diamond. For the same reason, cutters began to introduce small or narrow facets to take the place of damaged or missing corners, as long as this did not interfere with size. Table Cuts with rounded outlines were fashioned from naturally rounded crystals such as curved octahedrons and rhombic dodecahedrons. But at the same time cutters had to remember that excessive weight, and clumsy angles and height proportions, might seriously reduce the light effects, when a more appropriate cut might give brilliance and in some cases even fire. Such problems could be solved in the planning stage by ‘stepping’ either the crown or the pavilion or both, by raising the girdle in order to spread the cut, or by giving the diamond a fancy outline.

When eventually, by the beginning of the eighteenth century, all well-proportioned Tables had been recut into Brilliants, only those of poor quality remained on the market, and eventually the cut went completely out of fashion. A fresh supply, clumsily cut the sole purpose of retaining maximum weight, arrived from India. It is not surprising, therefore, that for a long time after the middle of the eighteenth century hardly anyone had ever seen a really beautiful Table Cut. A new term was introduced to describe these crude gems—the Indian Cut. However, the well-proportioned old Table Cut has been brought back, not exactly as it was but still beautiful. It is now known as the Square Cut (Carré) for small stones, and as the Emerald Cut for larger stones. These are always step cut, with modern height proportions.

Until the fourteenth century it was normal for at least pointed diamonds to be documented without any mention of shape or faceting. It is possible that the French expression plat (as opposed to pointe) is one of the earliest indications of the existence of Table Cuts. One also comes across the Latin phrase quadratus planus. Plat appears in the inventories of Queen Joan of France (1360), King John the Good of France (1364) and the Duke of Burgundy (1420), among a number of others. Diamonds are described as quarrez, but also as plat, en façon de mirouer and roont. Plat also refers to comparatively flat diamonds regardless of their outline or faceting. But from this time on, quarrez is also often used to indicate Table Cuts, with increasing frequency towards the end of the fifteenth century, and often combined with the word plat.

Table Cuts (continued)