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Necklet
Unknown - Enlarge image
Necklet
- Place of origin:
India (made)
- Date:
ca. 1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Enamelled gold, set with diamonds and pearls, with pendent pearls and emeralds
- Museum number:
03202(IS)
- Gallery location:
South Asia, room 41, case 10
Some British women collected traditional jewellery, and north Indian jewellery became fashionable among British women living in India in the 1880s. More commonly they had copies of European designs made locally. This necklet was acquired by London's India Museum in 1855, and would probably have been collected as an example of good traditional work. The front of the necklace is set with diamonds, but the back is enamelled with flower and leaf patterns in translucent red and green on an opaque white ground. Although it could not be seen when the necklet was being worn, the enamel would have protected the gold from abrasion by contact with the wearer's skin.
The India Museum was originally the East India Company's museum, housed at East India House in Leadenhall Street, London. With the demise of the East India Company in 1858, the museum came under the India Office and the collections were moved to Whitehall.
