Bejewelled Treasures: The Al - Thani Collection

BEJEWELLED TREASUREST H E A L T H A N I COL L EC T ION

BEJEWELLED

TREASU

RES THE A

L THA

NI CO

LLECTION

BEJEWELLED TREASURES

SUSAN STRONGE

!is beautiful book explores a selection of jewels and jewellery from the Al !ani Collection. It features over "## objects made in, or inspired by, India, dating from the seventeenth century to the present day.

Among the highlights, reproduced with specially commissioned photography, are delicate Mughal jades, vividly coloured enamels, famous jewels designed by Cartier and Paul Iribe, and a beautiful peacock ornament bought in Paris by a Sikh maharaja. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the book also discusses three major pieces from the British Royal collection, including a stunning jewelled bird from the throne of Tipu Sultan, ruler of the South Indian kingdom of Mysore.

!e exquisite cra$smanship of traditional Indian jewellers has inspired modern and contemporary masters – such as Cartier, JAR and Bhagat – in Europe and India, and their work is also explored here.

Susan Stronge is Senior Curator, Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum

%&'( %)%*&%+&, -.(/ )0% 12+&*'3*45

!e Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms ("666)Susan Stronge

!e Fabric of India (7#"8)Rosemary Crill, ed.

Jewels and Jewellery (7##9)Clare Philips

Painting for the Mughal Emperor: !e Art of the Book "#$%–"$%% (7##7)Susan Stronge

Tipu’s Tigers (7##6)Susan Stronge

1.*4:,; *4 *:%&<


!e Al !ani Collection

Susan Stronge with Joanna Whalley and Anna Ferrari!

V&A Publishing


!e Al !ani Collection

Susan Stronge with Joanna Whalley and Anna Ferrari!

V&A Publishing

First published by V&A Publishing, !"#$Victoria and Albert MuseumSouth KensingtonLondon %&' !()www.vandapublishing.com

Distributed in North America by Abrams, an imprint of *+(*,%© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

-e moral right of the author has been asserted.

.%+/ 0'1 # 1$#'' 1$' '

Library of Congress Control Number !"#$023"10

#" 0 1 ' 4 $ 3 2 ! #!"#0 !"#1 !"#' !"#4 !"#$

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers.

Every e5ort has been made to seek permission to reproduce those images whose copyright does not reside with the V&A, and we are grateful to the individuals and institutions who have assisted in this task. Any omissions are entirely unintentional, and the details should be addressed to V&A Publishing.

Front jacket: cat. '4Back jacket: cat. '"Frontispiece: cat. '2Page 2$: cat. $ (detail)Page #34: cats 0", #"" (details)

-e Al -ani Collection © Servette Overseas Limited !"#3 All rights reserved.

Photographs taken by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.

6789:;< :=><87 Rachel Giles =:?>@A:7 Reena Kataria;86B-:=><87 Linda SchoCeld>A=:D Hilary Bird

Printed in Italy

ContentsSponsor’s Foreword "Director’s Foreword #Acknowledgements $% Introduction 12

BEJEWELLED SPLENDOUR $&Susan Stronge

CATALOGUE '(Susan Stronge

The Treasury ') Emerald Beads and Pendants ($–(

The Court (* Mughal Jades "%–*

Kundan and Enamel *) Traditional Arm Ornaments #*–#

The Age of Transition $%+

Modernity and India $+% Two Elements from a Cartier $'+–( Ensemble of Emerald Jewellery

Contemporary Masters $&)

The Manufacture of Kundan Jewels: $)+A Brief Practical Overview

Joanna Whalley

Bibliography $"%Picture Credits $"&Index $"(

9

It is an honour to present at the Victoria and Albert Museum a spectacular range of princely jewels drawn from the Al !ani Collection. Over one hundred of the pieces on display were made in the Indian subcontinent or inspired by its jewelled arts. Its treasures include royal necklaces of emeralds, pearls and large translucent red spinels, a jade-hilted dagger once owned by Shah Jahan, a jewelled gold tiger head originally belonging to Tipu Sultan’s throne, and turban jewels and Mughal jade vessels from the collections of the Nizams of Hyderabad.

To add to these riches, the Museum is privileged to be able to display three major loans from Her Majesty the Queen, the famous ‘Timur Ruby’; a royal gemstone engraved with the titles of two Mughal emperors; and the marvellous jewelled bird made for the throne of Tipu Sultan, the eighteenth-century ruler of Mysore in South India.!e Al !ani Collection demonstrates the

sophistication of the art of the Indian goldsmith. In some respects, the skills developed in the subcontinent are entirely unique. Under the Mughals, the new technique of enamelling was introduced to the goldsmiths’ repertoire. Although inspired by European practice, it was given a di"erent and individual character by court jewellers. From the seventeenth century onwards, gold ornaments in the provinces of the Mughal empire were

set with precious stones on the front and enamelled in translucent colours on the back. !is style still survives in traditional jewellery today. !e breadth of the Al !ani Collection, which includes jewellery from many di"erent periods, allows for a new appreciation of such continuities. !e distinctive character of Indian jewelled and

enamelled gold strongly in#uenced European jewellers in the early twentieth century. !e Al !ani Collection gives considerable space to this period of global interaction in jewellery design. It includes creations by Cartier which gathered international fame, and contemporary works by JAR in Paris and Bhagat in Mumbai, which reinterpret the past in wholly innovative ways. !e V&A thanks His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin

Abdullah Al-!ani and Her Majesty the Queen for sharing the riches of their collections with the public. Bejewelled Treasures: !e Al !ani Collection and this accompanying catalogue are part of the Museum’s $%&'–&( India Festival. !e generous sponsorship by Wartski, as part of its celebration of the )rm’s &'%th anniversary, is gratefully acknowledged.

Martin Roth Director, !e Victoria and Albert Museum

Director’s Foreword

Fig. ! Portrait of a royal womanOpaque watercolour and gold on paperJaipur, early nineteenth centuryGiven by Sir Robert Nathan, V&A: IM.!"!–#$!#

9

It is an honour to present at the Victoria and Albert Museum a spectacular range of princely jewels drawn from the Al -ani Collection. Over one hundred of the pieces on display were made in the Indian subcontinent or inspired by its jewelled arts. Its treasures include royal necklaces of emeralds, pearls and large translucent red spinels, a jade-hilted dagger once owned by Shah Jahan, a jewelled gold tiger head originally belonging to Tipu Sultan’s throne, and turban jewels and Mughal jade vessels from the collections of the Nizams of Hyderabad.

To add to these riches, the Museum is privileged to be able to display three major loans from Her Majesty the Queen, the famous ‘Timur Ruby’; a royal gemstone engraved with the titles of two Mughal emperors; and the marvellous jewelled bird made for the throne of Tipu Sultan, the eighteenth-century ruler of Mysore in South India.-e Al -ani Collection demonstrates the

sophistication of the art of the Indian goldsmith. In some respects, the skills developed in the subcontinent are entirely unique. Under the Mughals, the new technique of enamelling was introduced to the goldsmiths’ repertoire. Although inspired by European practice, it was given a di5erent and individual character by court jewellers. From the seventeenth century onwards, gold ornaments in the provinces of the Mughal empire were

set with precious stones on the front and enamelled in translucent colours on the back. -is style still survives in traditional jewellery today. -e breadth of the Al -ani Collection, which includes jewellery from many di5erent periods, allows for a new appreciation of such continuities. -e distinctive character of Indian jewelled and

enamelled gold strongly inEuenced European jewellers in the early twentieth century. -e Al -ani Collection gives considerable space to this period of global interaction in jewellery design. It includes creations by Cartier which gathered international fame, and contemporary works by JAR in Paris and Bhagat in Mumbai, which reinterpret the past in wholly innovative ways. -e V&A thanks His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin

Abdullah Al--ani and Her Majesty the Queen for sharing the riches of their collections with the public. Bejewelled Treasures: !e Al !ani Collection and this accompanying catalogue are part of the Museum’s !"#$–#4 India Festival. -e generous sponsorship by Wartski, as part of its celebration of the Crm’s #$"th anniversary, is gratefully acknowledged.

Martin Roth Director, -e Victoria and Albert Museum

Director’s Foreword

Fig. ! Portrait of a royal womanOpaque watercolour and gold on paperJaipur, early nineteenth centuryGiven by Sir Robert Nathan, V&A: IM.!"!–#$!#

18 BEJEWELLED TREASURES THE AL THANI COLLECTION BEJEWELLED SPLENDOUR 19

king the realm itself was his livelihood. !e text of the Arthashastra accordingly lays out rules for the correct actions of the king."# In the process, an advanced system of jewellery production and trade is presented, with indications that considerable knowledge of gemmology was available.!e state treasury, the text advises, should be under

the care of a superintendent whose duties are to receive a range of materials including valuable jewelled articles, and to oversee the work of specialists in their di$erent %elds (%gs & and #). A longer passage describes the method of assessing whether pearls are excellent or defective, and lists the di$erent necklaces into which they may be strung. !ese range from single rows, with or without the addition of precious stones, to an assemblage of an implausible ",''( rows, which may have been understood metaphorically."( !e text also states that the Superintendent of Mines should establish factories for various articles, including diamonds and other gems, and pearls, implying that these were all cut or bored there.")!e colours of stones in the royal treasury are evoked

through metaphors: ruby can be like red lotus, sa$ron or the morning sun; beryls are compared to water, a parrot’s wing, bamboo or a cow’s urine. Sapphire can have ‘the lustre of the dark cloud’ and pure crystal the colour of a speci%c *ower. !e qualities of an exceptional stone would be recognized by gemmologists throughout history: ‘hexagonal, square or round, of a *ashing colour, having a suitable form, clear, smooth, heavy, lustrous, with lustre inside and imparting lustre’,+' as would the defects: dull, scratched or with impurities.!e classi%cation of gemstones and pearls became

codi%ed in treatises of uncertain date collectively known as the ratnashastras. !e word ratna is applied

in Sanskrit literature to any precious thing or excellent representative of a class, whether people, animals or anything else, as well as stones.+"!e early sixth-century Brihatsamhita begins a chapter

on precious and semi-precious stones with a warning: ‘Since a jewel endowed with good characteristics ensures good luck to kings, and one with bad ones, disaster, connoisseurs ought to examine their fortune depending on jewels’. It lists ++, including amethyst, coral, topaz and agate. However, four are given precedence: diamond, pearl, ruby and emerald.++!e text includes a version of the myth of the origin

of gemstones, deemed to have been transmuted from the severed body parts of the celestial being Bala and to have a luminosity derived from his purity. Rubies were created from his blood, pearls from his teeth, emeralds from his bile, and so on.+, However, it re*ects a nascent gemmology in its conclusion that stones may also be produced by ‘characteristic qualities of the earth’, and in giving indications as to where some of them might be found. Particular gems are associated with gods, or one of the elements, or both, and each stone has the potential to be auspicious or inauspicious, depending on its individual qualities or defects. Types of ornaments are listed, of which the largest (including the ",''(-rope pearl necklace) and heaviest are for gods and kings.+-

At about the same time, the Ratnapariksha, or Appreciation of Gems, was compiled, apparently as a technical manual. When the author states that the perfect octahedral crystal, which occurs naturally, is to be preferred to a cut stone, it demonstrates that diamond cutting was already practised in India.+. !is is con%rmed by other early texts that cannot be dated precisely.+&

In these treatises, diamonds are given primacy. One

of them, the Garuda Mahapuranam, states: ‘the learned hold diamond to be the most e$ulgent of all precious stones’.+# !e author speci%es the di$erent regions where diamonds were found in India, and describes the nuances of colour, all associated with a speci%c god, or caste, that were found in each locality. A king might wear any of them: ‘A king in his capacity of the lord of all the castes is privileged to wear diamonds of any colour he pleases’.+( However, nothing is strictly prescriptive in this complex gemmological world where each stone has its own qualities and can exert malign or benign in*uences depending on how, and when, it was worn.!e most systematic treatises value nine gems above

all others. !ese are divided into the %ve ‘great stones’, or maharatnani – diamond, pearl, ruby, sapphire and emerald – and a lesser group of four (uparatnani), comprising hyacinth, topaz, cat’s eye and coral.+) Curiously, there is no reference in the earliest texts to the talismanic arrangement of these ‘nine stones’ (navaratna) worn in later periods, set in rings, bracelets, pendants and other ornaments including armlets (%g. ().,'!e importance given to jewellery in the daily life

of ancient India is suggested by other sources. A %/h-century poem describes the markets of the southern Indian city of Madurai %lled with goldsmiths and jewellers: ‘In the wealthy neighbourhoods … were shops glittering with diamonds … emeralds of brilliant green … rubies called the red lotus, sapphire, pearl, and *awless crystal … the pure sardonyx, the colour of honey and sunlight; the onyx like clear darkness’.,"

Fig. ! Jewellers examining royal ornaments (detail from the borders of an album assembled for the emperor Shah Jahan) Payag Mughal, c."!#$–% Opaque watercolour and gold on paper The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rogers Fund, "&## (##."'".'!)

Fig. ( A lapidary (detail from the border of a page from the Gulshan (Rose Garden) album of the emperor Jahangir)Watercolour, ink and gold on paper Mughal, c."!$$–"# Náprstek Museum, Inv. No. A/"'"%'

18 BEJEWELLED TREASURES THE AL THANI COLLECTION BEJEWELLED SPLENDOUR 19

king the realm itself was his livelihood. -e text of the Arthashastra accordingly lays out rules for the correct actions of the king.#' In the process, an advanced system of jewellery production and trade is presented, with indications that considerable knowledge of gemmology was available.-e state treasury, the text advises, should be under

the care of a superintendent whose duties are to receive a range of materials including valuable jewelled articles, and to oversee the work of specialists in their di5erent Celds (Cgs 4 and '). A longer passage describes the method of assessing whether pearls are excellent or defective, and lists the di5erent necklaces into which they may be strung. -ese range from single rows, with or without the addition of precious stones, to an assemblage of an implausible #,""1 rows, which may have been understood metaphorically.#1 -e text also states that the Superintendent of Mines should establish factories for various articles, including diamonds and other gems, and pearls, implying that these were all cut or bored there.#0-e colours of stones in the royal treasury are evoked

through metaphors: ruby can be like red lotus, sa5ron or the morning sun; beryls are compared to water, a parrot’s wing, bamboo or a cow’s urine. Sapphire can have ‘the lustre of the dark cloud’ and pure crystal the colour of a speciCc Eower. -e qualities of an exceptional stone would be recognized by gemmologists throughout history: ‘hexagonal, square or round, of a Eashing colour, having a suitable form, clear, smooth, heavy, lustrous, with lustre inside and imparting lustre’,!" as would the defects: dull, scratched or with impurities.-e classiCcation of gemstones and pearls became

codiCed in treatises of uncertain date collectively known as the ratnashastras. -e word ratna is applied

in Sanskrit literature to any precious thing or excellent representative of a class, whether people, animals or anything else, as well as stones.!#-e early sixth-century Brihatsamhita begins a chapter

on precious and semi-precious stones with a warning: ‘Since a jewel endowed with good characteristics ensures good luck to kings, and one with bad ones, disaster, connoisseurs ought to examine their fortune depending on jewels’. It lists !!, including amethyst, coral, topaz and agate. However, four are given precedence: diamond, pearl, ruby and emerald.!!-e text includes a version of the myth of the origin

of gemstones, deemed to have been transmuted from the severed body parts of the celestial being Bala and to have a luminosity derived from his purity. Rubies were created from his blood, pearls from his teeth, emeralds from his bile, and so on.!2 However, it reEects a nascent gemmology in its conclusion that stones may also be produced by ‘characteristic qualities of the earth’, and in giving indications as to where some of them might be found. Particular gems are associated with gods, or one of the elements, or both, and each stone has the potential to be auspicious or inauspicious, depending on its individual qualities or defects. Types of ornaments are listed, of which the largest (including the #,""1-rope pearl necklace) and heaviest are for gods and kings.!3

At about the same time, the Ratnapariksha, or Appreciation of Gems, was compiled, apparently as a technical manual. When the author states that the perfect octahedral crystal, which occurs naturally, is to be preferred to a cut stone, it demonstrates that diamond cutting was already practised in India.!$ -is is conCrmed by other early texts that cannot be dated precisely.!4

In these treatises, diamonds are given primacy. One

of them, the Garuda Mahapuranam, states: ‘the learned hold diamond to be the most e5ulgent of all precious stones’.!' -e author speciCes the di5erent regions where diamonds were found in India, and describes the nuances of colour, all associated with a speciCc god, or caste, that were found in each locality. A king might wear any of them: ‘A king in his capacity of the lord of all the castes is privileged to wear diamonds of any colour he pleases’.!1 However, nothing is strictly prescriptive in this complex gemmological world where each stone has its own qualities and can exert malign or benign inEuences depending on how, and when, it was worn.-e most systematic treatises value nine gems above

all others. -ese are divided into the Cve ‘great stones’, or maharatnani – diamond, pearl, ruby, sapphire and emerald – and a lesser group of four (uparatnani), comprising hyacinth, topaz, cat’s eye and coral.!0 Curiously, there is no reference in the earliest texts to the talismanic arrangement of these ‘nine stones’ (navaratna) worn in later periods, set in rings, bracelets, pendants and other ornaments including armlets (Cg. 1).2"-e importance given to jewellery in the daily life

of ancient India is suggested by other sources. A CFh-century poem describes the markets of the southern Indian city of Madurai Clled with goldsmiths and jewellers: ‘In the wealthy neighbourhoods … were shops glittering with diamonds … emeralds of brilliant green … rubies called the red lotus, sapphire, pearl, and Eawless crystal … the pure sardonyx, the colour of honey and sunlight; the onyx like clear darkness’.2#

Fig. % Jewellers examining royal ornaments (detail from the borders of an album assembled for the emperor Shah Jahan) Payag Mughal, c.#%&'–( Opaque watercolour and gold on paper The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rogers Fund, #$&& (&&.#!#.!%)

Fig. ) A lapidary (detail from the border of a page from the Gulshan (Rose Garden) album of the emperor Jahangir)Watercolour, ink and gold on paper Mughal, c.#%''–#& Náprstek Museum, Inv. No. A/#!#(!

52 BEJEWELLED TREASURES THE AL THANI COLLECTION THE TREASURY 53

!" Emerald bead carved with overlapping petalsfar left

H !." cm W !.# cm D $." cm"!.! carats

!# Emerald bead with carved ribs, mounted with a natural pearl, gold wire and gold spacerleft

Colombian emerald H !.% cm W !.$ cm D $.# cm #&.%' caratsPearl H $.# cm D $.! cm $(.!# carats

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#$, p. %&, cat. #$.

!$ Emerald bead with diamond in kundan settingwith small roundels in gold leaf, on a necklace of natural pearls

Necklace L )" cmEmerald H $.( cm W ! cm

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#$, p. %', cat. #&.

!% Emerald bead on four strings of natural pearls

Necklace L *" cmEmerald H $.) cm W !.! cm D '.# cm!$ carats

(e emerald with inclusions but of good colour has a strong diochroism, meaning that it appears to be of di)erent hues depending on which way the light is directed through it.

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#$, p. $*!, cat. #!%.

Fig. &# Muslim lady holding lotus !lowersOpaque watercolour and gold on paperJaipur, c.!%#'Bibliothèque nationale de FranceEstampes, Reserve 'd"( pet.fol., f.!!The hat of this royal lady is in a form associated with Nur Jahan, the wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Her earring has a very large pendant emerald.

Fig. &$ Women selecting jewellery (detail from the borders of an album assembled for the emperor Shah Jahan)Opaque watercolour and gold on paper Mughal, c.!$#'–) Chester Beatty Library, In '%B.()


#* Emerald bead carved with overlapping petalsfar left

H +.* cm W +.( cm D $.* cm*+.+ carats

#& Emerald bead with carved ribs, mounted with a natural pearl, gold wire and gold spacerleft

Colombian emerald H +.) cm W +.$ cm D $.( cm (#.)% caratsPearl H $.( cm D $.+ cm $".+( carats

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#2, p. 0$, cat. #2.

#% Emerald bead with diamond in kundan settingwith small roundels in gold leaf, on a necklace of natural pearls

Necklace L '* cmEmerald H $." cm W + cm

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#2, p. 04, cat. #$.

#) Emerald bead on four strings of natural pearls

Necklace L &* cmEmerald H $.' cm W +.+ cm D %.( cm+$ carats

-e emerald with inclusions but of good colour has a strong diochroism, meaning that it appears to be of di5erent hues depending on which way the light is directed through it.

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#2, p. 21!, cat. #!0.

Fig. !& Muslim lady holding lotus !lowersOpaque watercolour and gold on paperJaipur, c.#)&'Bibliothèque nationale de FranceEstampes, Reserve 'd*" pet.fol., f.##The hat of this royal lady is in a form associated with Nur Jahan, the wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Her earring has a very large pendant emerald.

Fig. !% Women selecting jewellery (detail from the borders of an album assembled for the emperor Shah Jahan)Opaque watercolour and gold on paper Mughal, c.#%&'–( Chester Beatty Library, In ')B."(


!" Emerald carved on one side with a poppy !lower and leavesopposite, above (front and back)

H !." cm W !.# cm D $.% cm%#.% carats

!e rectangular stone has faceted edges. !ere are "owers carved on one side and petals on the corners. It has suspension holes cut into it on two sides.

!# Emerald carved on one side with a single !lower stemopposite, below left

H ".! cm W ".% cm"& carats

Published: Beyond Extravagance #$%&, p. '(, cat. %(.

$% Emerald carved on both sides with !loral motifsopposite, below right

H !.' cm W !.' cm D $.% cm().(% carats

Published: Beyond Extravagance #$%&, p. '(, cat. %).

Fig. $& Women eating p!n while examining jewellery (detail from the borders of an album assembled for the emperor Shah Jahan)Opaque watercolour and gold on paper Mughal, c.!'(%–" Chester Beatty Library, In %&B.)"

76 BEJEWELLED TREASURES THE AL THANI COLLECTION

"" Mouthpiece for a huqqa

Nephrite jade with diamonds, rubies and emeralds in kundan settingsNorth India (possibly Delhi, Lucknow or Varanasi), eighteenth century; the rubies are perhaps later additionsH *.( cm Diameter + cm

In #12!, Mrs Meer Hassan Ali highlighted the contemporary etiquette of huqqa-smoking.# In an assembly held by a king or ‘reigning nawab’, the milieu in which jade huqqas and their associated jewelled mouthpieces would be used:

No subject, however high he may rank in blood or royal favour, can presume to smoke. In Native courts, on state occasions, hookhas are presented only to the Governor-General, the Commander-in-Chief, or the [British] Resident at his Court, who are considered equals in rank, and therefore entitled to the privilege of smoking with him; and they cannot consistently resist the intended honour.

#. Mrs Meer Hassan Ali’s Observations on the Mussulmauns of India #0'1, p. #'1; Crst published #12!, p. #'1.

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#2, p. #1$, cat. 3$; Treasures from India !"#3, p. 20.

Fig. "& The Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (r."#"$–%&)Nidha MalOpaque watercolour and gold on paperDelhi, c.#)"'The San Diego Museum of Art. Edwin Binney "rd Collection, #$$'.")%

Fig. "% Rana Kirat Singh of MewarOpaque watercolour and gold on paper Udaipur, India, c.#)"' V&A: IS.##%–#$&*

THE AGE OF TRANSITION 105

!" Turban ornament

Diamonds in gold and silver, enamelled on the back and with large pendant spinelsProbably Jaipur, c.#$%!–#&''; the ties are modernH !".# cm W $" cm

!is form of turban jewel is depicted in photographs of the Nizams of Hyderabad from about "#$% until well into the twentieth century, and was also worn by the men of Hyderabad’s elite ‘Paigah’ families on suitable occasions. !e title ‘Paigah’ was invented by the third Nizam, and those holding it were given extensive landholdings and intermarried with the Nizams’ families. When the Bombay journalist D.F. Karaka visited the mansion of the Amir-e-Paigah in the "&%'s, for example, he saw portraits including one in which the Amir-e-Paigah wore ‘a diamond sarpich worn on the turban hung with rubies the size of walnuts’. !e value of the Amir-e-Paigah’s jewellery, he reported, could be gauged from ‘a few articles’ recently con(scated by Customs: they were valued at £)'','''." !e small spinel on the le* extremity from the front has two supposedly imperial Mughal inscriptions. However, neither the stone nor the calligraphy engraved with a diamond point are of imperial quality.

". Karaka "&%%, p. &+.

Published: Beyond Extravagance ,'"-, p. "&), cat. $,.

Fig. (" Sons of a Hyderabad noblePhotographIndia, #&'"Universal History Archive

Fig. (! Mir Osman ‘Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad (r. !"!!-#$) (detail)PhotographHyderabad, #&##Associated Press

THE AGE OF TRANSITION 105

&% Turban ornament

Diamonds in gold and silver, enamelled on the back and with large pendant spinelsProbably Jaipur, c.#()&–#$''; the ties are modernH $*.( cm W +* cm

-is form of turban jewel is depicted in photographs of the Nizams of Hyderabad from about #1'$ until well into the twentieth century, and was also worn by the men of Hyderabad’s elite ‘Paigah’ families on suitable occasions. -e title ‘Paigah’ was invented by the third Nizam, and those holding it were given extensive landholdings and intermarried with the Nizams’ families. When the Bombay journalist D.F. Karaka visited the mansion of the Amir-e-Paigah in the #0$"s, for example, he saw portraits including one in which the Amir-e-Paigah wore ‘a diamond sarpich worn on the turban hung with rubies the size of walnuts’. -e value of the Amir-e-Paigah’s jewellery, he reported, could be gauged from ‘a few articles’ recently conCscated by Customs: they were valued at £3"",""".# -e small spinel on the leF extremity from the front has two supposedly imperial Mughal inscriptions. However, neither the stone nor the calligraphy engraved with a diamond point are of imperial quality.

#. Karaka #0$$, p. 04.

Published: Beyond Extravagance !"#2, p. #03, cat. '!.

Fig. *% Sons of a Hyderabad noblePhotographIndia, #$'%Universal History Archive

Fig. *& Mir Osman ‘Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad (r. "$""-%&) (detail)PhotographHyderabad, #$##Associated Press

Bejewelled Treasures: The Al - Thani Collection

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