Portuguese Cut

The Portuguese cut earned its reputation in the early 20th century when cutters in Lisbon popularised a multi-tiered wheel of rhomboid facets for quartz and topaz. With five pavilion tiers and a similarly dense crown, it trades the tidy profile of a brilliant for relentless sparkle—light breaks so many times that even modest material looks electrified.

Traditional instructions were guarded, but the version below mirrors the ratios published by Vargas in Faceting for Amateurs. The pavilion angle starts at 62° and cascades down in 5° steps; the crown mirrors the same rhythm. In ProFacet every bracketed literal (for example [62], [57], [46], etc.) is individually optimisable, so after loading the spec try nudging the upper tiers or letting the optimizer push them. Expect a tangible performance boost—brighter average intensity and richer scintillation—at the cost of a slightly less refined look.

FSL Spec

set name "Portuguese Cut"
set ri 1.54
set gear 96
set cube 3

G1 0 @ 90  : size x 16
P1 0 @ [62] : cp
P2 3 @ [57] : gp
P3 0 @ [52] : mp(P1)
P4 3 @ [47] : mp(P2)
P5 0 @ [42] : mp(P3)

C1 0 @ [46] : mp(P1) +girdle
C2 3 @ [41] : gp
C3 0 @ [36] : mp(C1)
C4 3 @ [31] : mp(C2)
C5 0 @ [26] : mp(C3)
C6 0 @ 0.00 : mp(C4) x1

Interactive View

Note: Be aware that with extreme adjustments the stone begins to lose the Portuguese cut’s characteristic look.