Aftab - Natural Blue Lace Agate Décor

A handcrafted table décor piece by Orah Jewels and Crafts, named Aftab, Urdu for sun. At its center sits a hand cut brass medallion, a radiating sunburst of layered petal shapes fanning out from a central ring, a motif rooted in the long tradition of sun and rosette forms across Islamic geometric art.

The stone is natural blue lace agate, sourced from Baluchistan, quarried from the province's banded chalcedony deposits. Agate forms when silica rich groundwater seeps into gas pocket cavities in volcanic rock and deposits cryptocrystalline quartz in thin concentric layers, building the fine parallel banding agate is known for. Blue lace agate's pale blue grey tone comes from trace mineral inclusions and the microscopic fibrous structure of the chalcedony, which scatters light in a soft, satin finish rather than a hard sparkle. Agate has been cut for seals, beads, and inlay across South Asia and Central Asia for centuries, prized for how the banding reveals itself differently depending on the angle of the cut. This piece's banding runs in broad, even sweeps across the surface, which is why it was left in its natural, rounded form rather than squared into a tile.

At 4 x 4 inches, Aftab sits comfortably on a desk, console, or prayer corner. Made at the Orah Jewels and Crafts facility in Lahore, where the medallion is cut and set into the stone by hand. One piece.

Stone: Natural Blue Lace Agate (Baluchistan)
Metal: Brass
Size: 4 x 4 Inches