1/3ct Diamond Flower Pendant Necklace in 14K White Gold

Prong setting is the slower way to hold a small stone, and on cut-out work it is the only one available. There is no continuous field of metal in an openwork flower to cut pavé seats into. The petals are outlines and the gold between them has been removed, so each of the 32 round diamonds has to be carried on its own prongs along the line it sits on.

The optical consequence is worth the labor. A prong holds a stone above the metal instead of down in it, so light reaches the pavilion from below, and because the flower is pierced there is nothing behind the stones to stop it. Light passes through this pendant as well as bouncing off it, which is why openwork stays alive against skin where solid pavé reads as a surface.

0.30 carat total weight across those 32 stones, with very little gold left holding them, means the finished piece asks almost nothing of the chain. That is the practical argument for cut-out work: the scale of a large pendant without the mass, so a fine 16-inch cable chain carries it without being dragged out of shape.

Rhodium-polished solid 14K white gold, prong-set diamonds graded I–J and I1–I2, lobster clasp, lifetime warranty.