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In
India, Jaipur is now an international jewellery centre and most of the
dealers have foreign connexions. The lapidary work is done by hand
driven machines, the charges are low and the stones are cut skilfully.
With
the discovery of the diamond mines in Brazil in 1725 and subsequently
in South Africa, the diamond mines of India became defunct and
naturally the cutting industry gradually decayed. But soon a cutting
industry grew up in Europe, that in Holland and Belgium getting mostly
into the hands of the Jews. But in Panna State in India a small
production is still maintained, and a small cutting industry still
lingers. The Panna cutters are said to be proficient in cutting and
they do the brilliant, the rose, the step cut and the briolette. A
large number of Indian stones were always sent to Europe for cutting
and polishing. In India there is still a small amount of gem-cutting at
Bombay, Delhi, Jubbulpore, Batanpur and a few other places. Much
lapidary work is now done at Jaipur on emerald and other semi-precious
stones, referred to previously.
The
art of cutting was perfected by Louis de Berquem, who first used
diamond dust for diamond-cutting in his polishing wheel. In the
fifteenth century diamond-cutting made great strides, due perhaps to
Van Berquem. Rose and rosette forms were introduced in the sixteenth
century, which were very popular. The rose form was popular for a
century and was replaced by the 'brilliant', which was discovered by
Cardinal Mazarin about the middle of the seventeenth century.
The
cutting industry was thriving very well in Belgium and the Netherlands,
but the German invasion of these countries in May 1940 disorganized the
cutting industry, which also very much upset the diamond industry. As a
result cutting facilities became quite insufficient to meet the demands
of cut stones. The small cutting establishÂments in England, South
Africa and U.S.A. are being
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