Mid-century Straits Chinese pendant set with hand cut diamonds in 20k.

Made at the last part of a handmade era, these Peranakan pendants fuse Victorian, Chinese, and Indian culture.

These ‘rose cut’ diamonds are primitively cut, but their splicing gives them a raw beauty seen only in older jewellery culture, whether Western or Eastern.

This craft is a dying art, since setting the uneven edges of organic diamonds requires special artistry developed over decades.

Because these hand cut diamonds have no culets, craftsmen set the stones on tall ‘cups’ rather than bezels. This gives the illusion of deep set stones.

Importantly, setting them this way allows the gold to set off the fire of these diamonds.

You see this effect best by the slightest movement of the pendant. Even though these facets are more ‘spliced’ rather than ‘cut’, this works wonders in an almost ‘raw’ diamond pendant.

At 3cm tall, this pendant is neither small nor big. For many of these mid-century pendants, because of their size, the way to wear these today would be on a longer chain.

They become striking when worn at unusual lengths, bohemian over prim.