The History of Faceting
Faceting a gem requires knowledge of a gem's physical properties and of light so that its natural attractiveness is fully realized. The science of faceting gems stretches back millennia and continues today.
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Early Shaping
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Before the science of faceting began, early gem shaping involved very basic rounding and forming via lapidary wheels. This shaping began in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 B.C.
Renaissance
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During the 1200s, faceted gems began to appear in Europe. During the Renaissance, faceting gems became a popular trade, starting in what is now Flanders, spreading to Venice and then on to the rest of Europe, where enhancement of light became key.
Also during the Renaissance, in the 1400s, more geometrically complex faceting became possible when the horizontal spin cutting wheel was invented. Making more complex shapes could improve the play of light in the stone and control it.
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More Recent Times
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Around the late 1800s or early 1900s, electric faceting equipment began to replace manual lapidary wheels. In 1914, a man named Marcel Tolkowsky published a paper on the best way to cut a diamond and this document became the acceptable way to cut the pavilion of a gem.
Research on the connection between refraction and angle of facet still continues today.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit garnet gemstones image by Julianna Olah from Fotolia.com
