Bohemian garnet is chromium-bearing pyrope from the České středohoří, cut deliberately small — two to six millimetres, rose-cut — and set shoulder to shoulder until the metal beneath disappears. The stone does all the work; the mount is low-grade gold, silver-gilt or tombak, and stays out of the way.

This system inherits that logic. Density before scale, ornament symmetric about a vertical axis, and everything staged on the black velvet a jeweller's case is lined with — because pyrope fire only reads on a dark ground.