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PRECIOUS STONES 69
A
row of small facets is sometimes cut around the basal edge of
cabochon-cut stones, as in Fig. 11, Plate XV. Some stones, notably
moonstones, are frequently cut double convex, as in Fig. 12, Plate XV.
Although
precious stones were cut after a fashion in the countries where they
were found many centuries ago, the art of cutting as we know it is of
late development, and originated in Europe. Diamond-cutting was done
by one Hermann in 1407, and in 1434 Guttenberg learned gem-cutting and
polishing of Andreas Drytzehen, of Strasbourg. In 1456 Louis de Bequem
discovered a mode of cutting diamonds in regular facets, in Bruges.
Claudius de la Croix, a Frenchman, went to Nuremberg in 1590, and carried on the business of cutting rose garnets.
In
1475 Louis de Bequem made his first effort to obtain what was then
called the " perfect cut" on three large diamonds sent him by Charles
the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, receiving for his work three thousand
ducats. The " Sancy" (Plate XVI.) was one of these.
His
pupils went, some to Antwerp, some to Amsterdam, and some to Paris.
Cardinal Mazarin gave much encouragement to these latter, and ordered
twelve of the thickest diamonds of the French crown to be recut after
the new "brilliant" fashion, which was first cut about 1520. These were
called the twelve Mazarins. Their fate is unknown, though one appeared
in the 1774 inventory of French jewels under the name of the tenth
Mazarin. It was a fine four-cornered brilliant weighing sixteen carats
and valued at £2000.
Diamond-cutting
was brought to a high state of perfection in Lisbon by the Jews, but
religious persecution drove them, in the latter part of the sixteenth
century, to Amsterdam, where they have flourished ever since.
In 1700 there were seventy-five cutters in Paris. The political troubles which followed drove the industry to Ant-
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