January’s Garnet and a Jewel by JAR
Garnet is the gemstone of January.
To honour the Garnet, I picked a jewel for this post, which is a favourite from one of my recent books ‘Jewels by JAR’. Joel Arthur Rosenthal is the creator of jewels that are works of art, each in unusual combinations of gemstones and metal. It really has been a feast for my eyes.
This particular jewel is ~Mughal Flower Bracelet, 1987. There are garnets, rubies, sapphires, amethysts in titanium, silver and gold. Exquisite.
More images of some of his pieces can be seen here: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Garnet is a name that covers a group of minerals that are related in composition and with a similar crystal structure.They occur in many colours, as well as four or six rayed star stones and as colour change garnets.
The Demantoid is one of the beautiful green garnets associated with the characteristic inclusion ‘horsetail’. It’s also the only one in the series that is brittle with a poor toughness and caution is needed when handling this stone. There’s a clear image of the horsetail inclusion and more information in the GIA Garnet Quality Factors.
Pyrope, Almandine, Spessartine, Hessonite, and Rhodolite (a beautiful purple-ish red) are all mined in Sri Lanka… exciting !!!
What a coincidence, the reddish colour of the garnets above also brings to mind 2015 Pantones Colour of the Year: Marsala, a reddish brown, earthy colour!
Is there any aspect or story of garnets you would like to share? I’d love to hear it.
So here’s to 2015… wishing you a sparkly New Year xx
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