Lapis Lazuli Pearl Necklace

Lapis lazuli has been mined in the mountains of Badakhshan — in what is now Afghanistan — for over six thousand years. The same mines that produced the lapis for Tutankhamun's death mask, for the pigment in medieval illuminated manuscripts, for the blue in Michelangelo's frescoes, still produce lapis today. To wear lapis lazuli is to wear a fragment of that six-thousand-year history — a stone that has been treasured by pharaohs, kings, artists, and artisans across every era of human civilization. This necklace features genuine lapis lazuli beads with freshwater pearls on a sterling silver chain — the deep blue and the soft white, the ancient and the organic, in quiet dialogue.

The lapis beads are genuine, their deep royal blue surface flecked with gold pyrite — "fool's gold" that, in lapis, is the most precious part of the stone, the gold sparks that ancient Egyptians believed were stars trapped in a fragment of the night sky. The freshwater pearls between the lapis beads are the quiet — their soft, luminous white provides the visual silence between the blue declarations, the exhale between the lapis's deep, insistent presence. The sterling silver chain is fine and minimal, designed to let the lapis command the visual field.

• Genuine lapis lazuli beads — deep royal blue with gold pyrite, from the same region mined for 6,000+ years
• Genuine freshwater pearls
• Sterling silver chain and clasp
• Hand-strung with individual knots
• Nickel-free and hypoallergenic

Lapis lazuli is not a stone that tries to be subtle. Its blue is the deepest, most saturated blue in the mineral kingdom — the blue that medieval painters reserved for the Virgin Mary's robe because it was more expensive than gold. To wear it is to wear that blue close to the heart, a small fragment of the Earth's most storied pigment. Style this necklace with white, cream, or the same deep blue to create a monochromatic effect. A piece for the woman who values history, who knows that the best things carry their past with them into the present, and who is not afraid of a blue that demands to be seen.