LAPIDARY

Lapidary

A lapidary is an artist or artisan who forms stone, mineral, gemstones into decorative items such as engraved gems, including cameos, or cabochons, and faceted designs, or who is an expert in precious stones; and can be a collector of or dealer in gems. Related, but in contrast, hardstone carving is the term in art history for some of the objects produced and the craft. Diamond cutters are generally not referred to as lapidaries, due to the specialized techniques which are required to work diamond. In modern contexts "gemcutter" typically refers to people who specialize in cutting diamonds, but in older historical contexts; it refers to artists ...

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lapidary

Noun

  1. A person who cuts, polishes, engraves, or deals in gems.
    2005 Peter G. Read, "Gemmology"
    • in the very early days of gemstone fashioning, a polisher or lapidary would cut and polish both diamonds and other gemstones.
  2. An expert in gems or precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
  3. A treatise on precious stones.

Adjective

  1. Pertaining to gems and precious stones, or the art of working them.
  2. Suitable for inscriptions; efficient, stately, concise.
    • 2000: The sole truth was that supplied by mathematics or by such lapidary propositions as “What's done cannot be undone,” which was irrefutably correct. — Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God (Harper 2004, p. 71)


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: lapidary
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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