Mughal Cut
Around the Same Time, Diamond Cutting Began in Europe the Indians Started Fashioning Diamonds. Who Influenced Who Here Isn’t Clear but it is a Fact that the Designs Produced Differ a Lot From Each Other. The Best Known Indian Cut is the Mughal Cut, Accurately Described by J.B. Tavernier in his Book ‘Six Voyages’.
The name indicates a native Indian cut which followed the shape of the rough and often exhibits a large flat base and a reasonably large table facet separated by a sloping array of smaller facets but these features are by no means a requirement for the name Mughal Cut. The best-known example of a Mughal Cut was the fabled Koh-I-Noor (pictured on the right), which was re-cut into an oval brilliant in 1852 and currently resides in the Tower of London.
Tavernier has left us with a fair few sketches of Indian native cuts, which illustrate the rather wide variety of possibilities. The term Mughal Cut is better understood to be describing a diamond cut in India in the 16th, 17th or 18th century rather than a certain shape or arrangements of facets:
One famous Mughal Cut diamond which is still to be admired today is the Orlov diamond:
The Orlov Diamond in the Russian Imperial Sceptre
Image Courtesy of Elkan Weinberg.
Sketch of the Orloff Diamond From the Book Precious Stones by Max Bauer, Published in 1904.
Main Article
