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Jewellery
unknown - Enlarge image
Jewellery
- Place of origin:
Varanasi, India (made)
- Date:
ca. 1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Museum number:
03254&A/(IS)
- Gallery location:
In store
This pair of Indian ear ornaments is made of gold and silver set with diamonds, and has pendants of seed pearls and green glass. Their considerable weight is only partly supported by the gold bar which would pass through pierced ear lobes. Strands of seed pearls and ruby beads are attached to the upper section, and these would have fastened on to the hair to provide additional support.
The pair was acquired by the Indian Museum in London in about 1850 and were probably made not long before that date. The museum's minimal records state that they were made in Benares, now known as Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Much of the Indian Museum's collection, including these ear ornaments, were transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.
