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composed as a panther paw, the rock crystal inlaid with black onyx markings while the claws are denoted with carnelian.
Illustrated
See no.204 (pg 197) of ‘From Function to Fantasy, The Brooch: From 1200 BCE to the contemporary’ (Wartski, 2025).
The jewel was commissioned as part of a group of wedding gifts from a groom to his young bride, which also included a necklace of carved jasper algae culminating in a rock crystal and diamond-set octopus holding a rubellite; a lipstick holder in the form of two lips carried out in deep and pale coloured coral; and a rock crystal pill box with ruby-set hearts that was inset with a carved profile portrait of the young bride.