365 Project : 68 Semi-precious Stones in Gorgeous Pietre Dure

I am taking part in the 365 Project this year, and trying to post a picture a day. 

Here’s one of my favourite possessions, a beautiful chest made of inlaid semi-precious stones we bought one hot summer’s day in Florence, in a beautiful workshop in Ghirlandaio’s studio.

It’s edged in black Belgian marble and inlaid with sixty semiprecious stones in the Medici tradition of pietre dure, their names like a magical chant out of Revelation–malachite, rhodocrosyte, chalcedony, lapis lazuli, jasper, jade, onyx, moonstone, tiger eye, falcon eye.