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Necklet
Unknown - Enlarge image
Necklet
- Place of origin:
Calcutta, India (probably, made)
- Date:
ca. 1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Gold, pave-set with pearls and turquoises
- Museum number:
03238(IS)
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This necklace, with its gold chain of interlocking scales, is an Indian adaptation of the serpent jewellery that was popular in early Victorian England and was probably made in about 1850. An English serpent necklace or bracelet would usually fasten by looping the articulated scaly body over the reptile's head. On this piece, the chain is in two sections, each terminating in a wolf head. The teeth of each head are enamelled in white, the ears in red, and the eyes are set with rubies. They hold rings between their teeth to which are linked spheres covered with pave-set pearls separated by minute gold granules. Between the pearl-set spheres is a single sphere set with turquoises in the same technique. The clasp is a hook that loops into a ring set on a swivel post.
The necklace was acquired by the Indian Museum in London in 1855 and was transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.
