Pear Cabochon — Teardrop Cabochon for Phenomenal Stones and Pendants
Pear Cabochon — Teardrop Cabochon for Phenomenal Stones and Pendants
Asymmetric outline favoured for star sapphire, moonstone, and opal in pendant and earring applications
The pear cabochon is a polished, undomed cabochon cut in the outline of a pear or teardrop — rounded at one end, tapering to a point at the other. It is one of the standard cabochon outlines in the lapidary trade, alongside oval, round, and cushion, and is favoured for opaque and phenomenal gemstones whose optical effects benefit from a smoothly curved surface. Pear cabochons appear most frequently in pendant and earring applications, where the pointed end is conventionally oriented downward and lengthens the visual line of the piece.
What pear cabochons are used for
The cabochon cut, as distinct from faceted cuts, presents the gemstone as a smooth dome on a flat or slightly domed base. It is the appropriate cut for materials whose value lies in body colour, surface phenomena, or optical effects rather than in the dispersion and brilliance that faceting can produce. Pear cabochons are most commonly seen in:
- Star sapphire and star ruby — where the asterism (the six-rayed star produced by reflection off acicular rutile inclusions) requires a smoothly curved surface to focus the rays
- Moonstone — where adularescence (the floating blue-white sheen) is best displayed across a curved cabochon dome
- Cat's-eye chrysoberyl, cat's-eye tourmaline, and other chatoyant stones — where the chatoyant band requires a curved surface to read as a single sharp line
- Opal — where play-of-colour benefits from the cabochon's domed surface and from the absence of pavilion facets that would otherwise scatter the diffracted light
- Turquoise, lapis lazuli, and other opaque ornamental stones — where body colour and surface texture are the principal value drivers
Proportions and orientation
A well-cut pear cabochon has a length-to-width ratio in the range of 1.4:1 to 1.7:1, comparable to faceted pear cuts. The point should align with the centre axis of the rounded end, with no lateral deviation. The dome should be symmetrical, with no flattening or asymmetric bulging. The base may be flat (a true cabochon) or slightly convex (a double cabochon), depending on the material and the cutter's preference; star sapphires and star rubies in particular are commonly cut with a slightly convex base to retain weight and provide a stable mounting platform.
Orientation of the rough is critical for phenomenal stones. For star sapphire and star ruby, the rough is oriented so that the c-axis of the corundum crystal is perpendicular to the base of the cabochon, ensuring that the six-rayed star sits centrally on the dome. For chatoyant stones, the cutter orients the rough so that the chatoyant fibres run perpendicular to the long axis of the pear, producing a sharp band aligned with the cabochon's width. For moonstone, the rough is oriented so that the lamellar planes responsible for adularescence lie roughly parallel to the base, maximising the sheen visible across the dome.
Setting considerations
Pear cabochons are typically set in bezel mountings, which protect the rounded edges and the relatively soft material common to phenomenal stones (moonstone at hardness 6 to 6.5, star sapphire at 9, opal at 5.5 to 6.5, turquoise at 5 to 6). Half-bezels and prong settings are less common but appear in higher-end pieces where the design requires more visibility around the stone's circumference. Prong settings on pear cabochons require careful prong placement to avoid pinching the pointed end.
In the trade
Pear cabochons in star sapphire and moonstone are stock items at all major coloured-stone suppliers and require no unusual sourcing effort. Pear cabochons in fine opal, particularly Lightning Ridge black opal with peacock-pattern play-of-colour, are commissioned individually and selected for the alignment of pattern with shape. Pricing follows the underlying material; the cabochon cut itself adds modest cost over rough but reduces the overall cutting yield substantially compared with faceting.