facets,—a novel and elegant idea ; two are perfect brio-lettes ; the last, of 31-9/16 carats, a deep Rose.
But to return to Europe. It is certain that Mazarin ordered the twelve largest crown diamonds to be re-cut after a new fashion, which fashion Caire plausibly enough supposes to
have been the covering them all over with numerous little facets. Of
this pattern the Sancy is a good example ; so is the Austrian Yellow
Diamond, which last is known from Taverniere drawing of it to have been
so cut prior to 1C60, but when or where cannot be discovered. These
twelve diamonds of the Crown went afterwards by the name of Les Douze Mazarins. They have all vanished : the last of the number is entered on the Inventory of 1792 as Le dixième Mazarin, weighing 16 carats and valued at 2000Z. It is described amongst the brilliants as being of " forme carrée arrondie, de bonne eau, vif et mal net, fort épais."
The last and crowning invention in the art was that of the Brilliant, in
the last years of the same century, which is due to Vincenzio Feruzzi,
of Venice, a city then the chief seat of the business in Europe (Tav.
ii. 343). This person, by means of experiments upon coloured stones,
discovered what are now held the true principles of cutting the
Brilliant (Brilliant recoupe*), which is the ancient deep Table, modified by receiving 32 facets above and 24 below the girdle of the stone.*
The
foregoing details are not of mere antiquarian curiosity : they possess
a certain practical value in these times, when the jeweller's-work of
the Renaissance is sought after with the same avidity as any other
production of that tasteful era. To meet the ever-growing demand,
regular manufactories of Mediaeval as well as Renaissance
* These technical terms will be explained further on, when the actual operation of cutting is described.
