Assyrian Flower lapis pendant

Gold vermeil on silver with lapis drop

British Museum Ashurbanipal selection, 2018

The design of this pendant takes inspiration from the motifs found on a richly patterned Assyrian royal costume taken from a relief featuring the great Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in hunting dress.

Afghanistan was the source of lapis lazuli for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans.The best lapis lazuli is found in Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan and has been used for millennia in jewellery. The word lazuli is derived ultimately from the Persian lazhward, the name of a place where it was mined and which came to be associated with the stone and, eventually, with its colour.