Diamonds : An Early History of the King of Gems / Jack Ogden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ogden, Jack, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Diamonds--History.

Diamonds.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (403 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A lavishly illustrated, in-depth early history covering two thousand years of diamond jewelry and commerce, from the Indian mines to European merchants, courts, and workshops This richly illustrated history of diamonds illuminates myriad facets of the "king of gems," including a cast of larger-than-life characters such as Alexander the Great, the Mughal emperor Jahangir, and East India Company adventurers. It's an in-depth study tracing the story of diamonds from their early mining and trade more than two thousand years ago to the 1700s, when Brazil displaced India as the world's primary diamond supplier. Jack Ogden, a historian and gemologist specializing in ancient gems and jewelry, describes the early history of diamond jewelry, the development of diamond cutting, and how diamonds were assessed and valued. The book includes more than one hundred captivating images, from close-up full-color photographs of historic diamond-set jewelry (some previously unpublished), to photomicrographs of individual gems and illustrations of medieval manuscripts, as well as diagrams depicting historical methods of cutting and polishing diamonds.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1. The Diamond

2. The Ancient World

3. Early Persia and the East

4. Medieval Europe

5. The Dawn of Diamond Cutting in Europe

6. The Fifteenth-Century Technical Revolution

7. Renaissance Table and Point Cuts

8. Renaissance Multifaceted Cuts

9. The Early Brilliant Cut

10. Diamond Cutting in London

11. The Value and Assessment of Diamonds

12. The Indian Diamond Mines

13. The Diamond Trade in India

14. Diamond Cutting in India and the East

15. The Eclipse of Indian Diamonds

Epilogue

Appendix. A 1675 Description of the Diamond Mines

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Nov 2019)

ISBN:

0-300-23551-8

OCLC:

1030892978