History of Facetted Gemstones
Facetted Gemstones made their appearance in European jewelry during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. With the advent of the horizontally turning cutting-wheel in the late 1400s came the possibility of designing and repeating elaborately conceived geometric faceting schemes, thereby controlling and enhancing the light coming from within the stone.
Starting with the burgeoning Renaissance gem-cutting trade in Bruges, to Venice, Florence and eventually the whole of Europe, the management of light became the central theme in gem cutting. During the same period, Flemish painters, such as Jan Van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) also took up the obsession with light and reflection in their artwork. Using the laws of optics as a guiding force, the exterior shape and facet scheme of a cut gemstone would now be preordained by the refractive and reflective properties of the mineral itself.