Antieke juwelen glossarium
(verklarende woordenlijst)

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

Cabochon

Cabochon - (from French caboche, knob) A stone cut with a smooth rounded surface, with no facets and highly polished. Usually it is cut from an opaque or translucent stone (but some emeralds, amethysts. and garnets have been so cut), or a stone with a special optical effect (e.g. asteria, opal, moonstone). The style of cut was used in antiquity and continued until the 15th century when it began to be displaced by faceting; but its vogue was revived in art nouveau jewelry. Cabochons are of various shapes, usually circular or oval, but sometimes rectangular or triangular. There are four basic forms: (1) the 'simple cabochon', with a dome of varying degrees of steepness and a flat base; (2) the double cabochon', with a dome-shaped underside that is flatter than the upper dome; (3) the 'hollow cabochon', with the interior cut away so as to make a shell-like form with increased translucency and often to have foil attached to the interior; and (4) the 'tallow-topped cabochon', with a shallow do me. On rare occasions a cabochon is cut with a flat surface or 'table' on the top of the dome. Among the stones that are often cut as cabochons are the carbuncle (almandine), cats-eye, tiger's-eye, and amazonite. The stones so cut are said to be cut en cabochon.

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