Persian rosette hoop earrings with lapis and pearl

Silver, lapis and pearl with vermeil

The design of these earrings takes inspiration from rosette motifs on the relief scenes at old Persian city, Persepolis.

Pearl is an organic material, formed when an irritant enters a mollusk shell. Its characteristic iridescent surface sheen is due to these overlapping layers. These pearls are cultured freshwater pearls, meaning an irritant has been purposely added to the mollusk to start the natural formation process.

Pearl has generally been known as the stone of sincerity, symbolising purity whilst bringing truth and loyalty.

Afghanistan was the source of lapis lazuli for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilisations, 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.