Therewith I left them and went up to the attic of my house, where I had all in order that I wanted to do. What I did there I’ll tell you now, I’ve not told it anyone yet, and it brought me much honour in this diamond, but it does not necessarily succeed in others, and cannot be done without much labour and experience. I took a fair sized grain of mastic, cleared it well of its skin as I told above, so that it was as pure and bright as possible, & with all imaginable delicacy, having well cleaned the diamond, spread it over the stone with the aid of a moderate fire. Then I let it cool, holding it tight with the tongs used for tinting. When dry and cool I had my black tint ready, spread the same carefully and before a gentle heat on the top of the clear coat of mastic. This method suited so well to the tenderness and peculiar water of the diamond in question, that it seemed to remove from it any internal imperfections & make of it a stone of perfect quality. Then down I ran and put it into Master Raphaello’s hand. He uttered an expression of astonishment like you do when you see a miracle. The two others, Guasparri and Gaio, likewise expressed amazement, only more so, and praised me up to the skies, Gaio even so far let himself down as to begging my pardon. Then they said to me, all three of them together: ‘12,000 scudi was the worth of this diamond before, but, of a truth, it is worth 20,000 now.’ We shook hands amicably and parted the best of friends.
FOOTNOTES:
[41] The varnish resin, commonly called gum mastic.
[42] Sottile; i.e., the refinement of the water.
[43] Specchietto.
[44] Elsewhere, in one of his minor treatises on the arts, Cellini defines this word ‘Cicalare’ as the chatter of birds, a murmur of neither concord nor discord.
[45] Baldanza: swelling, brag.
CHAPTER X. HOW TO GIVE A DIAMOND ITS REFLECTOR.
In order not to leave out any of the few things that I have mastered, we will now discuss what is termed the reflector[46] of the diamond. This reflector is put beneath such diamonds as are so delicate as not to be able to stand a dark tint, such as would turn them black. If it happen that their delicacy is not great, and their water is good, it is customary to give them the tint under the step facets alone, and to combine the reflector with this, and the result is admirable.
The reflector is made in this wise. You take a small piece of crystal glass, quite clean, and free from cracks or flaws. You cut it into a square of a size that shall fit into the bezel in which you propose to set your diamond; and you tint your bezel with the black tint of which we spoke above. Be careful to put the said reflector, the glass of which is tinted on the lower side only, in the bottom of the bezel, low enough to admit of the diamond standing over but not touching it, because if it does it will not reflect well.[47] This is how all the tenderest diamonds should be set, and beautiful they look, too. Beryls and white topazes and white sapphires, white amethysts, and citrine quartz,[48] are all set in the bezel with a reflector of this kind, if they are of a sufficiently important size. It must be borne in mind that no stones but diamonds will stand a tint at the back, because they turn black, and lose their splendour. So much for the reflector.