The culet is the bottom point of the pavilion. It can also be a tiny facet, parallel to the table, that keeps the point from chipping.
In more detail
Without a culet facet, the pavilion mains meet in a point, often called pointed. A large culet shows face up as a spot in the center of the pattern. The Mazarin of the 1600s had a wide, open culet.
On a grading report
On the proportion diagram as a size word: see culet size.
Related terms
- Culet size: Culet size is the word that a report uses for the size of the culet. The eight words are None, Very Small, Small, Medium, Slightly Large, Large, Very Large and Extremely Large.
- Pavilion: The pavilion is the cone-shaped part of a cut stone below the girdle. A standard round brilliant has 24 pavilion facets: 8 mains and 16 lower halves.
- Pavilion main: Pavilion mains are the 8 long facets of a round brilliant's pavilion that run from the girdle to the culet.
- Mazarin cut: The Mazarin, or double cut, is the first brilliant, from the mid-1600s. It has 34 facets in all, on a cushion outline with a wide, open culet.