Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Rosette

A type of jewel in the form of a stylized rose, with a central gemstone surrounded by a circle of other stones. A group of closely-set, shaped diamonds arranged in circular form like the petals of an open rose. Such rosettes were made in India by placing together about 6 small diamonds that, in order for each to have the correct shape, had to be cut with a loss of about 50% of the weight, a difficult and costly process that required highly skilled artisans; an example is in the collection of the Green Vault in Dresden.

The style was used in southern Germany in finger rings and pendants to increase the effect of light before the introduction of the rose cut.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson