All About the Artistic Cutting and Mounting of Gems

The sequence to the cutting of a gem is generally mounting and setting it, unless it is merely perforated and strung as a bead or hung as a pendant. Mounting and setting is the trade of the goldsmith or jeweller, and whether his goods are artistic or inartistic depends to a great degree upon the discrimination of buyers. There is almost as much variation in the metallic environment of gems as there is in architecture, and the designing and execution of the jeweller range from meritorious to atrocious. To a great extent the metal mountings for gems are stamped out in dies or are otherwise machine-made, but no matter how deserving of praise the original design, the finished article, to the eye artistic, is "commercial." Within a few recent years the struggle to elevate art, in other directions than in the field of things considered as exclusively its province, has invaded the domain of jewelry, and some patient workers have produced commendable creations by their handicraft. This new jewelry is partly identified with what might be termed the general arts and crafts movement, but, as is always the case with efforts of this kind that become known under a popular name, many unworthy deeds are done under its banner by the careless, the deceptive, or the undisciplined, whose products, heralded by them as "artistic," are worse than "commercial." Pretenders can easily impose upon the uneducated. But honest efforts are being made by pioneers with high ideals to properly instill them into the minds of student craftsmen, and to train their hands to a degree of skill that will measure up to the higher standard, which hopeful reformers are trying to set for the jewelry of the future. The efforts of these idealists of the arts and crafts movement deserve the respect, the encouragement, and the co-operation of gem dealers and of the jewelry trade throughout. As it has been well said by Professor Oliver Cummings Farrington in his Gems and Gem Minerals:

There is room, however, for the development of a much higher taste in these matters than exists at present. The average buyer is content to know that the article which he purchases contains a sapphire, emerald, or diamond, representing so much intrinsic value, without considering whether the best use of it, from an artistic point of view, has been made; or whether for the same outlay much more pleasing effects might not have been obtained from others stores. In the grouping of gems, with regard to effects of colour, lustre, texture, etc. certain combinations often seen are far from ideal, while others rarely seen would be admirable. Thus a combination of the diamond and turquoise is not a proper one, since the opacity of the latter stone deadens the lustre of the former. The cat's-eye and diamond make a better combination, and so do the more familiar diamond and pearl. Colourless stones, such as the diamond or topaz, associate well with deep-coloured ones, such as amethyst and tourmaline, each serving to give light and tone to the other. Diamond and opal as a rule detract from each other when in combination, since each depends upon "fire" for its attractiveness.

While there are variations innumerable of design and device in mounting gems, there are practically but two basic methods, the mount a jour (two French words, meaning to the light) and the encased mount. The ordinary manner of setting gems in rings, the stone held by a circlet of claws, permitting a view of it, or through it, from all points, illustrates the a jour, or open, method. This is best adapted to transparent stones, exposing them freely to the light. The projecting claws of the open setting are slightly cleft near their extremities and these, under a pressure that inclines them slightly inward, pinch or grasp the stone at the girdle. Opaque stones, such as turquoise, bloodstone, or onyx, are usually set in the encased mount, in which the gem is set in a metal bed, with only the top exposed.

While to some degree anything fashioned by machinery is open to the detracting term "commercial," there is often much artistic merit in the designs issuing from the factories of manufacturing jewellers, but nothing can rival the charm of objects wrought solely and entirely by hand.

The work of the more expert of the students taking the jewelry course in Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, and at other educational institutions where this department of art and manual training is a serious feature, is a revelation of present attainments, and a hopeful sign that the jewelry of the future in America will conform more to true artistic ideals and serve less as a medium for mere ostentatious display. An exhibition of the work of students in the jewelry course was an attractive phase of the twenty-fifth annual exhibit of student products at Pratt Institute in June, 1908. The exhibits of the class in jewelry and metal-chasing were displayed in two large glass cases, and consisted of rings, pendants, bracelets, stick-pins, brooches, scarf-pins, buckles, and hammered copper work.