A POLISHED SICILIAN JASPER OR 'TURTLE STONE' PANEL 19TH CENTURY Of octagonal form 48cm by 48cm Provenance: The Simon Neal Collection , purchased from Warren Lee Richards This dramatic and highly sought-after variety of Sicilian Jasper is known as 'Turtle Stone' because of the way the fractured pattern of its brecciated marble clasts form a resemblance to the animal's shell carapace. The present specimen is composed of orange-iron-stained quartz and green breccia clasts that is similar to the variety of Sicilian Jasper called 'Diaspro di Moardo', which the eminent collector and historian of ancient decorative stones Faustino Corsi (1771 - 1846) described emphatically as "Rarissimo." (Very rare).