c. 1760 Rococo Diamond Cluster Ring

A c. 1760 West European (probably German) rococo diamond cluster ring, the center with a tall and pointed 24-facet full rose cut diamond (approx. 0.5 ct), surrounded by a halo of 15 smaller rose cuts. The silver-topped gold setting is typically mid-18th c Rococo in design, exemplified by an engraved convex ring posterior, openwork shoulders, ‘c-curl’ shoulder-to-head junctions, and separation seam between bezel and head. Related c. 1760 West European diamond cluster rings of this form are in the Koch Collection (no. 950 & 953, “Rings: The Alice and Louis Koch Collection” by Anna Beatriz Chadour). Another c.1760 rose cut diamond cluster ring is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (no. 55.32). A further example is in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (no. 19744). Diamond cluster rings of this type would have been suitable for engagement; the MET cluster ring for instance was presented to Judith Crommelin (1739-1803) by Samuel Verplanck (1739-1820) at the time of their engagement in 1760. However, surviving portraits also show women wearing these clusters as dress rings. For example, the c. 1765 portrait of Maria Luisa of Spain by Anton Raphael Mengs shows the subject wearing a rococo diamond cluster on her pinky (Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna).

Based on three-part symmetry, the rose cut is always faceted in multiples of 3, the most common historic variations being 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 facets. Modern impressions of the rose cut is of a shallow profile with no pavilion and a half-round dome. However, historic full rose cuts often have a dramatic pointed profile. According to Herbert Tillander, rose cuts evolved from and are a type of point cut. Prior to the 18th century, it co-existed with other modified point cuts such as the four-part symmetry based ‘taille en seize’; both having come from the pointed star cuts of the Renaissance. During the 18th century, three-part symmetry won out, and the rose cut replaced the ‘taille en seize’ to be the only starry point cut in common production. The 18th century 24-facet full rose can have a crown height retaining 50-70% of the girdle width; some 18th c full rose cuts were so high that they were able to be transformed into brilliant cuts during the 19th and 20th centuries.