Adonis Bangle

Specially commissioned by the British Museum in London, this striking bangle features a strong geometric design in textured sterling silver with a selected red carnelian stone as a centrepiece.

The Adonis collection, also including the Adonis earrings and matching Adonis necklace, share blood-red carnelian stones and polished silver reflecting God’s purity and power and skilfully hammered surfaces echoing the turbulence of the Adonis river as it carves its way down through mountainous valleys to the Mediterranean Sea at Byblos.

The popular myth of Adonis centres on the foothills above the ancient city of Byblos where the Phoenician goddess Ashtar (known as Aphrodite by the Greeks) fell in love with a beautiful orphaned boy called Adonis. Left in the care of the goddess of the underworld, who also fell in love with him, it was agreed that Adonis would spend half of the year with each of them. Tragically, one of the male gods became jealous of Adonis’ beauty and growing influence and, under the guise of a wild boar, fatally gored the handsome young man.

As Adonis lay dying in Ashtar’s arms, his blood spilled onto an anemone flower, staining it crimson red. Seeing the strength of Ashtar’s grief, the goddess of the underworld took pity and restored Adonis to life so that he could once again spend half the year in the mountains and half in the underworld.

The Phoenicians commemorated Adonis’ death when autumn floods turn the Adonis river red as mud from the mountains is carried downstream and celebrated his restoration to life by singing and dancing as red anemone flowers bloom in the valleys every Spring.

All our jewellery is handmade in our riverside studio nestled in the Ryburn Valley in the heart of rural Yorkshire, where we only use precious metals and gemstones sourced from ethical suppliers.

Your new jewellery will arrive in a branded gift box, lovingly wrapped in a ribbon along with care instructions, a protective anti-tarnish strip and a polishing cloth.