Table Percentage
53 – 63%
Proportion tolerance is wider than round. Prioritize L:W ratio and bowtie severity over table percentage.
Shape · Face-Up View
Light Performance · Live
The largest face-up size of any cut per carat weight. Two points, maximum elongation, and the most dramatic silhouette in the collection.
The marquise — also called navette, meaning "little boat" — is a football-shaped brilliant cut with two pointed ends and a curved belly. Of all diamond shapes, it returns the largest face-up surface area per carat weight, making a given stone appear substantially larger than its weight suggests. Both points require prong protection. Like the oval and pear, virtually all marquise cuts exhibit a bowtie — and the marquise bowtie is typically more pronounced than on other elongated shapes due to its greater length-to-width ratio. In-person evaluation is essential.
The marquise cut is attributed to King Louis XV of France, who reportedly commissioned the shape in the mid-18th century, requesting a diamond that matched the smile of his mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour. Whether the story is accurate or apocryphal, the name and the shape have persisted. The modern marquise brilliant, with its optimized facet arrangement for maximum light return, was refined in the early 20th century alongside the round brilliant. The shape saw its commercial peak in the 1970s–80s and has experienced periodic revival cycles since.
The marquise bowtie is typically the most pronounced of any elongated brilliant. A faint bowtie is acceptable; severe bowties significantly impact center-stone appearance.