Knowledge, Technique, and Taste in Transit: Diamond Polishing in Europe, 1500–1800

Hofmeester, Karin

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96379-2_11

Karin Hofmeester^4,5

Part of the book series: Europe's Asian Centuries ((EAC))

667 Accesses

Abstract

In the early modern period, diamond polishing techniques shifted from India to Europe and then from one urban centre to another. The circulation of knowledge and techniques and the people involved in these circulations are subject of this chapter. It shows how merchants, jewellers, and polishers each needed specific types of knowledge and how written sources as well as ‘learning-by-doing’ played a role in their transfer. An increasing knowledge of proportions, geometry, and refractions stimulated the development of new types of cuts, culminating in the brilliant. Equally important for innovations were the availability of various types of stones and changes in fashion. The chapter suggests therefore that new cuts developed in court workshops and circulated to other workshops via sketchbooks and engravings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 119.00; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 159.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
For an overview of these relocations, see Karin Hofmeester, “Shifting Trajectories of Diamond Processing: from India to Europe and Back, from the Fifteenth century to the Twentieth,” Journal of Global History 8 (2013): 25–49.
2.
This point of view is debated and cannot be proven with ‘hard evidence.’ Godehard Lenzen, The History of Diamond Production and the Diamond Trade (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1970), 72, and Alois M. Haas, Ludwig Hödel, and Horst Ernst Scheider, Diamant: Zauber und Geschichte eines Wunders der Natur (Berlin: Springer, 2004), 231 all think the origin lies in India. The fourteenth century Indian gemmology Agastyasamhita described copper polishing wheels, abrasives, and bruiting instruments, see: S.R. Sarma, “Historical Notices on Gem Cutting in India,” in History of Science and Technology in India vol VI: Metals and Metal Technology, ed. G. Kuppuram and K. Kumudamani (Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan 1990), 141–58, on 149 and 151. Edgar Samuel, “The Invention of Diamond Polishing,” Industrial Diamond Review 40 (1980): 5–7.
3.
For a description of the process, see Eric Bruton, Diamonds (London: N.A.G. Press, 1970), 180–203.
4.
Piero Pazzi, I Diamanti nel Commercio nell’Arte e nelle Vicende Storiche di Venezia (Venezia: Monasterio di San Lazzaro degli Armeni, 1986), 13–14.
5.
For numbers and regulations, see Pazzi 16–17. For the Jews that were caught polishing, see Salvatore Ciriacono, “Diamonds in Early Modern Venice: Technology, Products and International Competition,” in Ian Pinsker ed., History of Technology, 32 (2014): 67–86, on 76–80.
6.
For the Bruges trade and industry, see Ludo Vandamme and John A. Rosenhøj, Brugge Diamantstad (Bruges: Vandamme and Rosenhøj cop. 1993).
7.
James C. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640 (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1993), 135–6.
8.
Stadsarchief Antwerpen (henceforth SAA), Notarieel Archief (henceforth NA), N 3624; John Everaert, “Shifting the ‘Diamond Connection’ Antwerp and the Gem Trade with Portuguese India (1590-1636),” in Indo-Portuguese History: Global Trends. Proceedings of XI—International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, ed. Fátima da Silva Gracias, Celsa Pinto and Charles Borges (Goa: Maureen & Camvet Publishers, 2005), 315–35, on 317–21.
9.
Jan Denucé, Inventaire des Affaitadi Banquiers Italiens à Anvers de l’Année 1568 (Antwerpen: Éditions de Sikkel, 1934), 63 and Iris Kockelbergh, Eddy Vleeschdrager, and Jan Walgrave, The Brilliant Story of Antwerp Diamonds (Antwerp: MIM NV, 1992), 41.
10.
Everaert, “Shifting the ‘Diamond Connection,’” 321–27, and idem, “Soldaten, Diamantairs en Jezuïeten: Zuid- en Noord-Nederlanders in Portugees-Indië,” in Souffrir pour parvenir: de Wereld van Jan Huygen van Linschoten, ed. Roelof van Gelder, Jan Parmentier, and Vibeke Roeper (Haarlem: Uitgeverij Arcadia, 1998), 80–99 and 182–4, on 89–90.
11.
Kockelbergh, Vleeschdrager and Walgrave, Brilliant Story, 57.
12.
Annelies de Bie, “The Paradox of the Antwerp Rose: Symbol of Decline or Token of Craftmanship,” in Innovation and Creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European Cities, ed. Karel Davids and Bert de Munck (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), 269–93, on 277.
13.
Godelieve van Hemeldonck Leercontracten, Arbeidscontracten en Compagnieën 1414–1795 (Antwerp, 2008). This very extensive inventory of thousands of apprentice contracts made up with notaries in Antwerp is a wonderful tool to select the diamond polisher’s contracts. These particular contracts can be found in SAA N 2070 and N 2073.
14.
Dora Schlugleit, Geschiedenis van het Antwerpsche Diamantslijpersambacht (1582-1797) (Antwerpen: Guillaume, 1935), 9–10.
15.
Schlugleit, Diamantslijpersambacht, 13–18. For a brief peak round 1580 in the increase of new burghers who worked as diamond polishers, see Jan de Meester, “To Kill Two Birds with One Stone: Keeping Immigrants in by Granting Free Burghership in Early Modern Antwerp,” in Innovation and Creativity, ed. Davids and Munck, 95–113 on 103.
16.
Jonathan Israel, “The Economic Contribution of Dutch Sephardi Jewry to Holland’s Golden Age, 1595–1713,” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 96 (1983): 505–35, on 508.
17.
Collectie Handschriften Stadsarchief Amsterdam (henceforth SA), 5059/259: Collectie Vaz Dias betreffende joden in Amsterdam. Cahier Diamant I and Schlugleit, Diamantslijpersambacht, 67.
18.
The archivist Simon Hart counted all male professions in the registers of intended marriages in Amsterdam for 1600–1715. See SA, Archief Dr S. Hart (henceforth ASH), 883/412-414 and Simon Hart. “Geschrift en Getal. Onderzoek naar de Samenstelling van de Bevolking van Amsterdam in de 17e en 18e eeuw, op grond van Gegevens over Migratie, Huwelijk, Beroep en Alfabetisme,” in idem, Geschrift en getal. Een Keur uit de demografisch-, economisch- en sociaalhistorische studiën op grond van Amsterdamse en Zaanse Archivalia, 1600-1800 (Dordrecht: Historische Vereniging Holland, 1976), 115–81.
19.
SA, ASH, Entries notarial records, 30452/390.
20.
SA, ASH 883/412-414; Archief van S. Hart: (gedeeltelijke) toegang op de notariële archieven 30452/390; Cahier Diamant I Vaz Dias.
21.
Mozes Heiman Gans, Juwelen en mensen. De geschiedenis van het bijou van 1400 tot 1900, voornamelijk naar Nederlandse bronnen (Schiedam: Interbook International, 1979), 76 and 95.
22.
Israel, “Economic Contribution,” 521.
23.
SA: Archieven van de Schout en Schepenen, van de Schepenen en van de Subalterne Rechtbanken, 5061/694, request of a number of non-Jewish diamond cutters to establish a guild.
24.
Henri Heertje, De Diamantbewerkers van Amsterdam (Amsterdam: D.B. Centen’s Uitgeverij, 1936), 21.
25.
This description of the diamond cuts is based on Herbert Tillander, Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewellery 1381–1910 (London: Art Books International, 1995), also see Jan Walgrave, “Diamantslijpvormen in de 17e eeuw,” in Een Eeuw van Schittering. Diamantjuwelen uit de 17^eEeuw (Antwerp: Diamantmuseum, 1993), 37-54, for useful drawings see: http://university.langantiques.com/index.php/A_History_Of_Diamond_Cutting.
26.
De Bie, “The Paradox of the Antwerp Rose,” 275–8; Kockelbergh Vleeschdrager and Walgrave, Brilliant Story, 107, 109 and 119–20.
27.
De Bie, “The Paradox of the Antwerp Rose,” 279–86.
28.
Max Bauer, Precious Stones: vol 1 (New York: Dover 1986 repr.), 131.
29.
Tillander, Diamonds Cuts, 130 and Darcy P. Svisero, James E. Shigley, and Robert Weldon, “Brazilian Diamonds: A Historical and Recent Perspective,” Gems & Gemology 53 (2017): 2–33, 10–11.
30.
Tillander, Diamond Cuts, 130 and 139.
31.
Ibidem, 180.
32.
See Bert De Munck, Technologies of Learning: Apprenticeship in Antwerp Guilds from the 15th Century to the End of the Ancien Régime (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), 248 on the scholarly discussions about the growing distinction between design and execution, in practice between the architect (with his knowledge on mathematics and geometry and drafting) and the artisans. A distinction like this might also have existed in jewelry design and execution.
33.
Van Hemeldonck, Leercontracten, a.o. references to N 485 f 6; N 1620 f-, and N 2512 f-.
34.
Annibale Mottane, “Italian Gemology During the Renaissance: A Step toward Modern Mineralogy,” Geologiocal Society of America, Special Paper 411 (2006): 1–21, on 1.
35.
See the chapters by Bycroft and Rijks in this volume as well as Sven Dupré, “The Art of Glassmaking and the Nature of Stones: The Role of Imitation in Anselm De Boodt’s Classification of Stones,” in Steinformen: Natura – Materia – Artificio, ed. Maurice Sass, Iris Wenderholm and Isabella Augart (Berlin: De Gruyter, forthcoming).
36.
Gemmarum et lapidum-historia: quam olim edidit Anselmus Boetius de Boot 3^rd edn. (ex officina Ioannis Maire, 1647).
37.
Mottane, “Italian Gemology,” 7.
38.
Schlugleit, Diamantslijpersambacht, 68. This happened especially in the second half of the seventeenth century when part of the polishing moved to Amsterdam and trading remained in Antwerp.
39.
SA, 30452/390 a.o.: NA 3680/241; Van Hemeldonck, Leercontracten, a.o. N65.
40.
Louis XIV’s court jeweller and polisher, Pitau, who worked on a famous blue diamond (later called the Hope diamond) is a good example. See Walgrave, “Diamantslijpvormen in de 17e eeuw,” 51.
41.
I thank Monique Rakhorst for sharing this idea with me.
42.
Gans, Juwelen en mensen, 73–5.
43.
Walgrave, “Diamantslijpvormen,” 41–2.
44.
Gans, Juwelen en mensen, 81–95.
45.
For Légaré, see Joan Evans, A History of Jewellery 1100–1870 (New York: Dover, 1970 repr.), 145–7. On Morison’s work and the circulation of the engravings, see Harold Clifford Smith, Jewellery (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons London: Methuen & Co, 1908), 309.
46.
The information on the Venetian and Genoan manuscripts is based on Colette Sirat, “Les Pierres précieuses au XV^e siècle,” Annales, Économies Sociétés Civilisations 23 (1968): 1067–85, especially 1071, 1078.
47.
Bartolomeo di Pasi, Tariffa de i pesi, e misure corrispondenti dal Levante al Ponente: e da una terra, e luogo allaltro, quasi p tutte le parti dil mondo (Venice: Paolo Gherardo, 1557). The book is not systematically paginated, information can be found under the headings ‘Allepo di Soria con Firenza’ (165) ‘Lisbona di Spagna con Vinetia’; ‘Parise di Franza con Vinetia’ and ‘Vinetia con Anversa di Fiandra’ (186). Also see Lenzen, History of Diamond Production, 61.
48.
Original: Duarte Barbosa, Livro de Duarte Barbosa, c 1516, Italian translation 1554, I used the translation made by Mansel Longworth Dames, The Book of Duarte Barbosa (original 1812, repr. New Delhi and Madras: Asian Educational Services, 2002), 221–2.
49.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India: Translated from the Original French Edition of 1676 by Valentine Ball, vol 2 (Reprint, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1989), 74–6.
50.
Jan Denucé, Koopmansleerboeken van de XVIe en XVIIe Eeuwen in Handschrift (Antwerp: Standaard, 1941), 203–4.
51.
The full title was A Treatise on Diamonds and Pearls, in which their Importance is considered, and Plain rules are exhibited for ascertaining the Value of both, and the True Method of manufacturing Diamonds. I consulted the second edition of 1751. See especially pages 65–86 (on Brazilian diamonds) and the tables and diagrams that follow the text. For the information on how to polish brilliants, see pages 9–18.
52.
Paolo L. Rossi, “’Parrem uno, e pur saremo dua’ The Genesis and Fate of Benvenuto Cellini’s Trattati,” in Benvenuto Cellini: Sculptor, Goldsmith, Writer, ed. Margaret A. Gallucci and Paolo L. Rossi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2004), 171–98, on 174.
53.
See for an English translation: The Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini on Goldsmithing and Sculpture (Strand: Edward Arnold, 1898). For the description of a diamond polishing mill, see pages 31–32. For a digital version of this book, see https://archive.org/details/TheTreatisesOfBenvenutoCelliniOnGoldsmithingAndSculpture.
54.
For a digital version of his book, see: http://fondosdigitales.us.es/fondos/libros/1776/11/quilatador-de-oro-plata-y-piedras/.
55.
‘Juan de Arfe’ in The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, ed. Gordon Campbell, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 28.
56.
Lenzen, History of Diamond Production, 95.
57.
Herbert Tillander, Diamond Cuts, 42.
58.
Tillander, Diamond Cuts, 42–43.
59.
Ibidem, 102.
60.
David Humphrey, “’Hidden Secrets of Ingenious Mistery’. The Curious Nature of Goldsmithing Manuals – Two Tudor-Jacobean Examples,” La Revue Société d’Études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles HS 2 (2010): 125–34.
61.
Humphrey, “’Hidden Secrets,” 127.
62.
Hazel Forsyth, The Cheapside Hoard. London’s Lost Jewels (London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2014), 77, 154 and 161–3.
63.
For the use of this book by merchants, see Eliyahu Ashtor, Levant Trade in the Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), xxii.
64.
http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vocbeschrijvingvandam/index_html_en.
65.
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage ofte schipvaert […] naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien […]. (Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1596), 104, 106–9. Philippus Baldaeus, Beschryving van het machtige eyland Ceylon … Nauwkeurige en waarachtige ontdekking en wederlegginge van de afgoderye der Oost-Indische heydenen, Malabaren, Benjanen, Gentiven, Bramines …, Kustgebieden Malabar Sri Lanka (Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge & Joannes van Someren, 1672), 162–4.
66.
Pieter van Dam, Beschrijvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, book 2, vol. 2 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1932), 181–5, 190–2. The editor of this publication, F.W. Stapel, annotated Van Dam’s work and referred to the sources Van Dam used.
67.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India: Translated from the Original French Edition of 1676 by Valentine Ball, vol. 1 (Reprint, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1989), lx–lxvi.
68.
Marcia Pointon, Brilliant Effects: a Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 41.
69.
Rossi, “’Parrem uno, e pur saremo dua,’” 191–2.
70.
Maria Del Carmen Heredia Moreno, “Juan de Arfe Villafañe y Sebastian Serlio,” Archivo Español de Arte, 76 (2003): 371–88, on 372.
71.
Humphrey, “Hidden Secrets,” 128.
72.
Robert de Berquen, Les merveilles des Indes Orientales et Occidentales (Paris, 1661), title-page.
73.
Van Hemeldonck, Leercontracten. For reading and writing as part of the apprenticeship curriculum, see De Munck, Technologies of Learning, 53.
74.
Schlugleit, Diamantslijpersambacht, 171.
75.
Bert De Munck and Hugo Soly, “’Learning on the Shop Floor’ in Historical Perspective,” in Learning on the Shop Floor: Historical Perspectives on Apprenticeships, ed. Bert De Munck, Steven L. Kaplan and Hugo Soly (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007), 3–32 on 14–16 and De Munck, Technologies of Learning, 53.
76.
Sometimes it is stated that the father of the apprentice will deliver the diamonds the apprentice will work on and then provisions on possible loss of the stone are included. Van Hemeldonck, Leercontracten, ref. N 1368 f 22.
77.
De Munck, Technologies of Learning, 53 and 248.
78.
Janneke Tump, Ambachtelijk geschoold: Haarlemse en Rotterdamse ambachtslieden en de circulatie van technische kennis, ca 1400–1720 (PhD dissertation: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2012), 206–7. She also mentions a pattern book found in the workshop of a silversmith.

Bibliography

Ashtor, Eliyahu. Levant Trade in the Middle Ages. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983.
Google Scholar
Baldaeus, Philippus. Beschryving van het machtige eyland Ceylon … Nauwkeurige en waarachtige ontdekking en wederlegginge van de afgoderye der Oost-Indische heydenen, Malabaren, Benjanen, Gentiven, Bramines …, Kustgebieden Malabar Sri Lanka. Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge & Joannes van Someren, 1672.
Google Scholar
Bauer, Max. Precious Stones: vol 1. New York: Dover, 1986 (Reprint).
Google Scholar
Boyajian, James C. Portuguese Trade in Asia Under the Habsburgs, 1580–1640. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Google Scholar
Bruton, Eric. Diamonds. London: N.A.G. Press 1970.
Google Scholar
Ciriacono, Salvatore. Diamonds in Early Modern Venice: Technology, Products and International Competition. In History of Technology, vol. 32, edited by Ian Pinsker, 67–86. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.
Google Scholar
Clifford Smith, H. Jewellery New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. London: Methuen & Co, 1908.
Google Scholar
Davids, Karel and Bert de Munck, eds. Innovation and Creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European Cities. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.
Google Scholar
De Bie, Annelies. The Paradox of the Antwerp Rose: Symbol of Decline or Token of Craftmanship. In Innovation and Creativity, edited by Davids and de Munck, 269–93. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.
Google Scholar
De Meester, Jan. To Kill Two Birds with One Stone: Keeping Immigrants in by Granting Free Burghership in Early Modern Antwerp. In Innovation and Creativity, edited by Davids and de Munck, 95–113.
Google Scholar
De Munck, Bert. Technologies of Learning. Apprenticeship in Antwerp Guilds from the 15th Century to the End of the Ancient Régime. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007.
Google Scholar
De Munck, Bert, Steven L. Kaplan, and Hugo Soly, eds. Learning on the Shop Floor: Historical Perspectives on Apprenticeships. New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007.
Google Scholar
De Munck, Bert, and Hugo Soly. ‘Learning on the Shop Floor’ in Historical Perspective. In Learning on the Shop Floor, edited by de Munck et al., 3–32.
Google Scholar
Del Carmen Heredia Moreno, M. A. Juan de Arfe Villafañe y Sebastian Serlio. Archivo Español de Arte 76 (2003): 371–88.
Article Google Scholar
Denucé, Jan. Inventaire des Affaitadi Banquiers Italiens à Anvers de l’Année 1568. Antwerp: Éditions de Sikkel, 1934.
Google Scholar
———. Koopmansleerboeken van de XVIe en XVIIe Eeuwen in Handschrift. Antwerp: Standaard, 1941.
Google Scholar
Di Pasi, Bartolomeo. Tariffa de i pesi, e misure corrispondenti dal Levante al Ponente: e da una terra, e luogo allaltro, quasi p tutte le parti dil mondo. Venice: Paolo Gherardo, 1557.
Google Scholar
Evans, Joan. A History of Jewellery 1100–1870. New York: Dover, 1970 (Reprint).
Google Scholar
Everaert, John. Soldaten, Diamantairs en Jezuïeten: Zuid- en Noord-Nederlanders in Portugees-Indië. In Souffrir pour parvenir: de Wereld van Jan Huygen van Linschoten, edited by Roelof van Gelder, Jan Parmentier, and Vibeke Roeper, 80–94 and 182–4. Haarlem: Uitgeverij Arcadia, 1998.
Google Scholar
———. Shifting the ‘Diamond Connection’ Antwerp and the Gem Trade with Portuguese India (1590–1636). In Indo-Portuguese History: Global Trends. Proceedings of XI – International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, edited by Fátima da Silva Gracias, Celsa Pinto, and Charles Borges, 315–35. Goa: Maureen & Camvet Publishers, 2005.
Google Scholar
Forsyth, Hazel. The Cheapside Hoard. London’s Lost Jewels. London: Philip Wilson Publishers, 2014.
Google Scholar
Gans, M. H. Juwelen en mensen. De geschiedenis van het bijou van 1400 tot 1900, voornamelijk naar Nederlandse bronnen. Schiedam: Interbook International, 1979.
Google Scholar
Gemmarum et lapidum-historia: quam olim edidit Anselmus Boetius de Boot. 3rd edn. Lugduni Batavorum: Ex officina Ioannis Maire, 1647.
Google Scholar
Haas, Alois M., Ludwig Hödel, and Horst Ernst Scheider. Diamant: Zauber und Geschichte eines Wunders der Natur. Berlin: Springer, 2004.
Google Scholar
Hart, Simon. Geschrift en Getal. Onderzoek naar de Samenstelling van de Bevolking van Amsterdam in de 17e en 18e eeuw, op grond van Gegevens over Migratie, Huwelijk, Beroep en Alfabetisme. In Geschrift en getal. Een Keur uit de demografisch-, economisch- en sociaalhistorische studiën op grond van Amsterdamse en Zaanse Archivalia, 1600–1800, edited by Simon Hart, 115–181. Dordrecht: Historische Vereniging Holland, 1976.
Google Scholar
Heertje, Henri. De Diamantbewerkers van Amsterdam. Amsterdam: D.B. Centen’s Uitgeverij, 1936.
Google Scholar
Hofmeester, Karin Shifting Trajectories of Diamond Processing: from India to Europe and Back, from the Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth. Journal of Global History 8 (2013): 25–49.
Article Google Scholar
Humphrey, David. ‘Hidden Secrets of Ingenious Mistery’. The Curious Nature of Goldsmithing Manuals – two Tudor-Jacobean Examples. La Revue Société d’Études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles HS 2 (2010): 125–34.
Article Google Scholar
Huyghen van Linschoten, Jan. Itinerario. Voyage ofte schipvaert […] naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien […]. Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1596.
Google Scholar
Israel, Jonathan. The Economic Contribution of Dutch Sephardi Jewry to Holland’s Golden Age, 1595–1713. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 96 (1983): 505–35.
Google Scholar
Juan de Arfe. In The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, edited by Gordon Campbell, vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Google Scholar
Kockelbergh, Iris, Eddy Vleeschdrager, and Jan Walgrave, eds. The Brilliant Story of Antwerp Diamonds. Antwerp: MIM NV, 1992.
Google Scholar
Lenzen, Godehard. The History of Diamond Production and the Diamond Trade. London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1970.
Google Scholar
Longworth Dames, Mansel, trans. The Book of Duarte Barbosa. New Delhi; Madras: Asian Educational Services, 2002 (Reprint).
Google Scholar
Mottane, Annibale. Italian Gemology During the Renaissance: A Step Toward Modern Mineralogy. Geologiocal Society of America, Special Paper 411 (2006): 1–21.
Google Scholar
Pazzi, Piero. I Diamanti nel Commercio nell’Arte e nelle Vicende Storiche di Venezia. Venezia: Monasterio di San Lazzaro degli Armeni, 1986.
Google Scholar
Pointon, Marcia. Brilliant Effects: A Cultural History of Gem Stones and Jewellery. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
Google Scholar
Rossi, Paolo L. ‘Parrem uno, e pur saremo dua’ The Genesis and Fate of Benvenuto Cellini’s Trattati. In Benvenuto Cellini. Sculptor, Goldsmith, Writer, edited by Margaret A. Gallucci and Paolo L. Rossi, 171–98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Google Scholar
Samuel, Edgar. The Invention of Diamond Polishing. Industrial Diamond Review 40 (1980): 5–7.
Google Scholar
Sarma, S.R.. Historical Notices on Gem Cutting in India. In History of Science and Technology in India vol VI: Metals and Metal Technology, edited by G. Kuppuram and K. Kumudamani, 141–58. Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, 1990.
Google Scholar
Schlugleit, Dora. Geschiedenis van het Antwerpsche Diamantslijpersambacht (1582–1797). Antwerp: Guillaume, 1935.
Google Scholar
Sirat, Colette. Les Pierres précieuses au XVe Siècle. Annales, Économies Sociétés Civilisations 23 (1968): 1067–85.
Article Google Scholar
Svisero, Darcy P., James E. Shigley, and Robert Weldon. Brazilian Diamonds: A Historical and Recent Perspective. Gems & Gemology. The Quarterly Journal of the Gemological Institute of America 53 (2017): 2–33.
Google Scholar
Tavernier, J.-B. Travels in India: Translated from the Original French Edition of 1676 by V. Ball. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1989 (Reprint).
Google Scholar
Tillander, Herbert. Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewellery 1381–1910. London: Art Books International, 1995.
Google Scholar
Tump, Janneke. Ambachtelijk geschoold. Haarlemse en Rotterdamse ambachtslieden en de circulatie van technische kennis, ca 1400–1720. Ph.D. dissertation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2012.
Google Scholar
Van Dam, Pieter. Beschrijvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, book 2, vol. 2. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1932.
Google Scholar
Van Hemeldonck, Godelieve. Leercontracten, Arbeidscontracten en Compagnieën 1414–1795. Antwerp: 2008.
Google Scholar
Vandamme, Ludo, and John A. Rosenhøj. Brugge Diamantstad. Bruges: Vandamme and Rosenhøj cop, 1993.
Google Scholar
Walgrave, Jan. Diamantslijpvormen in de 17e eeuw. In Een Eeuw van Schittering. Diamantjuwelen uit de 17^eEeuw, 37–54. Antwerp: Diamantmuseum, 1993.
Google Scholar

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Karin Hofmeester
University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Karin Hofmeester

Authors

Karin Hofmeester
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

History Department, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
Michael Bycroft
History of Art, Science and Technology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Sven Dupré

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hofmeester, K. (2019). Knowledge, Technique, and Taste in Transit: Diamond Polishing in Europe, 1500–1800. In: Bycroft, M., Dupré, S. (eds) Gems in the Early Modern World. Europe's Asian Centuries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96379-2_11

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96379-2_11
Published: 28 November 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96378-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96379-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics