Azure Flare Earrings

Purple, red, then blue — three colours a jeweller is rarely brave enough to hang on one line, and here they follow one another in a single vertical descent.

At the ear, a pear-cut amethyst, claw-set and left open on every side. Below it a rub-over diamond, then a hexagonal garnet bezelled in gold, then a second diamond, and at the foot an oval blue topaz.

The two diamonds are the intelligence of the piece. Each sits at a junction, clearing the eye between one colour and the next, so purple gives way to red and red to pale blue with each arriving as a fresh statement in its own right.

The geometry travels as well: pear, round, hexagon, round, oval. Every shape is answered by a different one, and the hexagon — the single hard-edged stone in the drop — is placed at the centre, where it holds the line straight.

Over the blue topaz sits the one piece of ornament in the earring, and it earns its place twice. Pavé lobes reach down across the crown of the stone and grip it, so the largest gem in the drop hangs from a setting that reads purely as decoration.

This pair has been sold.