Sunflower Wisp Musawwar Agate Ring

The stone is a natural, untreated Yemeni agate of the Musawwar kind, the picture stone: a translucent orange-red dome crossed by a dozen short pale wisps, white to pale gold, lying almost parallel like brush strokes or a passing shower, with a few darker flecks near the lower edge. It is cut as an oval cabochon with a high dome and a clear polish, so the wisps sit at different depths inside the stone.

The bezel is rimmed with beaded milgrain over a darkened groove. Each shoulder carries a large sunflower-like blossom in high relief, with smaller five-petal flowers above and below and curled tendrils, all raised against an oxidised ground on a sterling silver band that continues the scroll pattern.

A garden on the shoulders and weather in the stone.