Wallace Chan’s latest brooch is an exquisite study in entomology

Jewelled insects

Jewellery artist Wallace Chan conveys his Chinese heritage and Zen philosophy in one-offs pieces such as this cicada brooch. The striking creature of titanium and imperial jade – part of a sculpture Chan calls Stilled Life – bears wafer-thin wings that allow light to pass through the stone. The effect is ethereal, as though the insect might fly from its bejewelled bamboo leaf, which is dewy with diamonds, sapphires, and tsavorite garnets. Since ancient times, Chinese culture has revered the cicada as a symbol of purity, nobility, and rebirth, and regarded jade as a healer. “Some Chinese people will even place a carved-jade cicada figure in the mouth of the deceased to help them reincarnate more quickly,” says Chan. This cicada can be worn – the brooch is about 16cm wide – but it may create even more buzz when displayed as art on its roughly 40cm-tall bamboo stalk.

Wallace Chan