The British public’s disappointment with the Koh-i-Noor highlighted the difference in the aesthetic cultures of the West and India. Most Indians, including those great jewel connoisseurs, the Mughal emperors, liked their gems as close to their natural state and original size as possible. In contrast, after the development of the brilliant cut in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which released the ‘fire’ at the heart of every diamond, the British wondered why this great diamond failed to sparkle.
