The Portuguese cut is a modified brilliant gemstone cut featuring a high facet count — typically 161 facets in its full form — designed to maximise brilliance and scintillation through additional tiers of crown and pavilion facets above and below the standard brilliant configuration. The cut is most commonly applied to coloured stones, particularly quartz, topaz, citrine, and tourmaline, where the additional facets reinforce body colour through repeated internal reflection and produce a fine pinpoint sparkle pattern that the standard round brilliant cannot match.

Geometry and facet count

The Portuguese cut layers two additional rows of facets above and below the conventional crown and pavilion of a standard brilliant, producing 96 facets on the crown and 56 on the pavilion (with a typical 9-facet table treatment) for a 161-facet total. The cut is most often round in outline, though oval and cushion variants are encountered, and the proportions are tuned for transparent coloured material rather than for diamond. The additional facets multiply the internal reflection paths and break the light return into smaller, more numerous flashes than the standard brilliant produces.

The cut is sometimes called the Brazilian cut or the Lisbon cut in older literature, reflecting its associated geographical traditions, and is occasionally attributed to the Portuguese cutter Manuel de Matos Pichot working in the early twentieth century, though the precise origin is disputed in the cutting-history literature.

Application to coloured stone

The Portuguese cut performs particularly well in highly transparent quartz species — clear rock crystal, citrine, smoky quartz, and amethyst — where the saturated body colour and high transparency support the additional facet work. Topaz, particularly the saturated blue and London Blue treated material, is also a frequent recipient. Tourmaline, beryl, and synthetic spinel and corundum used in fashion and design contexts also appear in Portuguese cuts, particularly in larger sizes where the cutting investment is justified by the rough cost.

The cut is less commonly applied to high-value precious species — fine ruby, sapphire, and emerald — where conventional cushion, oval, and emerald cuts are preferred and where the cutter prioritises weight retention over the visual effect of the additional facet work. Portuguese-cut diamonds are rare in commercial production; the cut's high facet count and proportional logic do not optimise diamond's particular optical properties as well as the modern round brilliant does.

Cutting investment and yield

The Portuguese cut requires significantly more cutting time and skill than a standard brilliant, with each additional facet tier adding setup and polish time. The yield against rough is also reduced, since the additional crown and pavilion tiers consume material that a standard cut would retain in the stone. The combined investment makes the cut economic principally in larger stones (typically 5 carats and up in coloured stone) and in display-quality material where the cutting work can be priced into the finished stone.

In the trade

Portuguese-cut stones occupy a specialised niche in the coloured-stone market, with master-cutter examples in citrine, smoky quartz, amethyst, and topaz commanding meaningful premiums over standard-cut equivalents. Lapidary clubs and the American Gem Trade Association's Cutting Edge competitions regularly feature Portuguese-cut entries among the top award-winning work, and the cut is associated in the contemporary American context with master cutters including John Dyer, Stephen Avery, and Mark Gronlund. For dealers, the cut is best evaluated on cutting precision, polish quality, and the match between the cut's optical strengths and the host material's properties.

Further reading

• GIA Gems & Gemology — coloured-stone cut articles
• International Gem Society — gemstone cuts reference
• ICA — coloured-stone cutting tradition