The asymmetric rays of textured gold wirework which radiate around the central cabochon stone of lapis lazuli make this brooch a dramatic example of the revolution in jewellery design in London in the 1960s. The rich colours of the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the textured gold are the main features of the design; the diamonds play a supporting role. On other occasions Grima left stones rough and used objects cast from nature.

Andrew Grima (1921-2007) was born in Rome of a Maltese father and an Italian mother. He trained in Nottingham as an engineer, fought in Burma in the Second World War, and then entered the jewellery firm, HJ Company, owned by the father of first wife, Helène Haller. He exhibited in the celebration of contemporary jewellery organized by Graham Hughes at the Goldsmiths' Hall, London in 1961, won a series of prizes in the Diamonds International Award competitions, and, in 1966, the Duke of Edinburgh Prize for Elegant Design. The same year he opened his London shop in Jermyn Street, its façade made of rough slabs of slate sharing the panache and the energy of his jewels. The Queen, Princess Margaret and Jacqueline Onassis have all worn his jewellery. The V&A's brooch was bought in December 1968 by the director Roman Polanski for his wife, the actress Sharon Tate, to mark their first wedding anniversary.

The firm moved in1986 to Lugano and in 1993 to Gstaad where it continues.