Early Slumped Glass Works
This slumped glass brooch encapsulates three large blue glass beads arranged in the form of a çintemani, an ancient symbol associated with protection, power, and fertility. The beads are embedded within a softly translucent, milky glass body whose irregular, gently angled edges give the piece the feeling of a found fragment, part talisman, part relic.
The three circular blue elements dominate the composition, their saturated turquoise tones and darker central cores evoking watchful eyes or charged nodes of energy. Set closely together, they establish a strong triangular rhythm characteristic of the çintemani motif, historically used in Ottoman decorative arts as an emblem of strength, authority, and safeguarding. Surrounding inclusions of darker glass, black, deep aubergine, and silvery reflective fragments add contrast and a sense of containment, as if the central symbol is being held or protected within the glass matrix.
The clear outer layer acts like a lens, magnifying internal textures: tiny bubbles, fractures, and crystalline effects that catch and scatter light. These imperfections lend the brooch a tactile, lived-in quality, reinforcing its amuletic presence. Though small and intimate, the piece carries symbolic weight, transforming cultural memory into a contemporary, wearable object, quietly assertive, protective, and luminous.