Strawberry Light

How does light travel in gemstone? Sometimes in surprising, unexpected and expressive ways, the question and conclusion explored by Strawberry Light. It is after all a piece of simply 4 stones. Yet somehow, emanating throughout this a red rutillated quartz [56 carats, 29 x 25 x 13.75mm] from Brazil which some call strawberry quartz, the colors of the blue lapis and the green aventurine beneath seem to drift up. In person the colors are sparks of the reds and whites, blues and greens in the shining quartz but every photo of this sculpture is suffused with colors. And the challenge it poses to you is to turn it untill you find the angles at which it will stand with the larger end at the top.

Strawberry quartz is a peculiar name. Some say it’s given to this red rutillated quartz; others use it for other red quartz forms. In any case the rutile needles here, an ore of titanium, are red.

In Strawberry Light, beneath the quartz are aventurine [5.5 grams (source unk.) 39mm x 17.5mm], lapis lazuli [25 grams (40 x 37mm)] from Afghanistan and what’s known as black chalcedony from somewhere in Africa. While most commercial black onyx is agate which has been dyed black by cooking it with sugar and sulfuric acid, this stone is a true black and is untreated.

Price $1400