Amethyst Fountain Pen S.T. Dupont × L'Aquart × Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio

A single block of natural amethyst, hand-carved into a working fountain pen. Edition of ten.

One of ten

This is Edition of 10 — a numbered, signed work in an artist's series of ten. Each piece is unique in its crystalline patterning; no two blocks of amethyst are identical.

The stone

Amethyst is a variety of crystalline quartz whose violet colour arises from iron impurities and natural irradiation within the crystal lattice. It registers 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it durable enough to carve with precision while remaining receptive to a high lapidary polish. Prized since antiquity, amethyst was worn by Egyptian pharaohs and by medieval bishops; the Greeks attributed to it the power to preserve clarity of mind. It is the birthstone of February and one of the most historically significant of all gemstones. The specific stone used here exhibits the stone's characteristic deep violet, with the natural internal light-play — zones of colour and translucency — that no synthetic material can replicate.

The pen & mechanics

The writing instrument is an original S.T. Dupont fountain pen in 18k gold, carrying the 750 hallmark. Every S.T. Dupont pen is finished at the Maison's atelier in Faverges, Haute-Savoie, where 95% of every Dupont object has been hand-made since the house was founded in 1872. The pen rests in a pair of forks carved to cradle it, and these mounts — together with the bezel that rims the amethyst case — are executed in gold-plated bronze, framing the gold of the pen against the depth of the stone.

The cap cipher

The S.T. Dupont double-D monogram is set into the cap: the mark of a house that has supplied bespoke objects to heads of state, crowned houses, and private clients of discernment since the nineteenth century. Among those who have carried a Dupont: Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie; the Maharajas who commissioned the first Dupont trunks; and Jackie Kennedy, who ordered a set of lighters as gifts.

The artist

Luis Alberto Quispe Aparicio is a Peruvian-born lapidary artist working under the L'Aquart atelier. His practice centres on the transformation of raw mineral matter into objects of daily ritual — where the act of writing, or the gesture of holding a pen, becomes an encounter with geological time. Each piece in this series begins with the selection of a single exceptional stone; the carving follows the natural structure of the crystal.

The Maison

S.T. Dupont was established in Paris in 1872 by Simon Tissot-Dupont. The house rose to prominence as the pre-eminent maker of travel trunks and personal accessories for European royalty and nobility, before becoming synonymous with the luxury lighter and the prestige writing instrument. Today, the Maison continues to produce its pens and lighters by hand in Faverges.

Offered by

Surround Art Gallery presents this work as part of its curated programme of objects at the intersection of fine art and functional craft.

Base: 26 × 6 × 3 cm  |  Pen: 20 × 2.5 × 2.5 cm  |  Total height: 10 cm