A SMALL PYU BANDED AGATE ‘FROG’ TALISMAN, 200-1000 AD Pyu city-states, ancient Myanmar. Well carved in the form of a frog standing foursquare, drilled through the neck and behind for suspension as a pendant, the finely polished stone of a brown color with white, gray, and russet bands. Provenance: From the collection of Paolo Bertuzzi. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother’s business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom. Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Wear, small nicks, minor signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, natural imperfections. Weight: 8.9 g Dimensions: Length 2.5 cm Bestowed with supernatural healing properties and a representation of fertility and security, amulets such as the following were most likely carried around. Literature comparison: Compare a related Pyu agate frog from the Guennol Collection, illustrated by Usha Ramanrutham, The Guennol Collection, vol. III, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1991, p. 88, and later sold at Sotheby’s New York, 21 March 2023, lot 213.