Bohemian garnet cutting shops – I
At the beginning of the 17th century, crude Bohemian garnets were supplied to the market in Prague, where they were subsequently cut and drilled. A cutting shop known as the Imperial Mill was established at the initiative of Emperor Rudolf II in Bubeneč, Prague, at the end of the Royal Park, and it employed three famous generations of the Miseroni family from Italy. In addition to Bohemian garnet cutting, it mainly produced vessels carved from crystal, smoke quartz, agate, jasper, etc. Cutting shops were also established in the New Town of Prague. It was as early as 1598 that the emperor granted the first gemcutters the privilege to export Bohemian garnets abroad (except large pieces).
At the same time, a cutting shop was also founded in Brandýs. During the reign of Rudolf II, the next wave of prospectors, mainly from Venice, came to Bohemia, settling in Mašov near Turnov. In Bohemia, probably in Turnov, only large garnets were cut. It wasn’t until the reign of Empress Maria Theresa that the exclusive right to cut and drill Bohemian garnets was transferred back to Bohemia. This right was acquired by Count Filip Kolowrat-Krakowsky, the highest burgrave in Bohemia. At the end of the 18th century, garnets were also cut at the estate of Count Lobkowicz in Jistebnice near Tábor and at the estate of Count Hatzfeld in Podsedice in the Central Bohemian Uplands (founded in 1770). The Podsedice cutting shop was later acquired by Count Schönborn and operated until the 1870s.
Independent gemcutters continued to work in the Central Bohemian Uplands (in Podsedice, Třebívlice and probably also elsewhere). Bohemian garnet cutting was moved from the Central Bohemian Uplands back to Turnov, where gemcutters had worked probably since the 17th century and where gemcutting has been preserved to this day, unlike other places. In the mid-19th century, an impressive number (viewed from today’s perspective) of about 2,000 gemcutters were employed in Turnov. At approximately the time when the Podsedice cutting shop was founded, cutting shops were also established at the Lobkowitz estate in Obřice and Netluky, as well as in Vlastislav and Bílina. A huge interest in the field led to the establishment of the Vocational School for Gemstone Processing on 3 September 1883 (later the State Vocational School of Jewellery in Turnov, now the Secondary School of Applied Arts), with the actual teaching commencing on 8 November 1884.
In 1752, garnet cutting also began at the newly purchased estate of Count Kolowrat in Světlá nad Sázavou, where the Count summoned the best German master gemcutters. In 1809, there were reportedly 25 garnet cutting workshops in Světlá that employed 88 workers with an annual production of 98,000 cut gemstones. As early as 1841, 10 independent garnet cutters and 43 workers worked in 7 garnet polishing shops there. It is likely that some gemcutters specialized in cutting diamonds, but their number is not known.
In the Kolín region, a precious stone called pyrope was prospected for a relatively short period and in its time it gained fame as the “Kolín garnet”. A craft guild was even founded in Kolín for the few deposits located there. While a number of archival sources have been preserved on the activities of the guild, including its seal, no written documents about the actual garnet mining have been discovered yet.
Bohuslav Balbín (1679), a well-known Jesuit author and historian, writes: “When at the estate of Barons Krafft in Ratboř, one mile from Kutná Hora, I once thoroughly examined a pile of stones in a meadow, I separated a hundred garnets from it quite easily – although only the size of peppercorns, they were magnificent.”
Garnet cutters probably worked in Kolín from 1768. Garnet processing and trade were apparently initially in the hands of the Kolín Jews, but garnet cutting and drilling were gradually entrusted to experienced masters. They came, for example, from Rovensko (among them a master named Jan Kramář), initially settling on the outskirts of Kolín. In 1773, they submitted a request to the town council for affiliation to the guild of potters and fishermen and, in the following year, for permission to found their own guild.
A gemcutter’s family – currently exhibited in the Schwarzenberg Palace of the National Gallery, Prague.
Garnet cutters at the beginning of the 20th century.
Garnet cutters at the beginning of the 20th century.
The original seal of the Gemcutter and Driller Guild of the royal town of Kolín – called the Garnet Guild or just Garnet Cutters (1827).
A burgheress wearing jewellery with Bohemian garnets, second half of the 18th century.
A burgher jewel with Bohemian garnets in the form of a rose cut in the base metal, second half of the 19th century.