Pair of Ear-Drops
ca. 1850 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The shape of these ear-drops is a development of a traditional Indian form. The rosette is called a karanphul ('ear-flower'), which may first have been combined with the bell-shaped pendant in the 17th century. This example has two bell pendants instead of the usual single form. The small strips of thin sheet gold hanging from the 'bells' tremble with the slightest movement, causing light to flicker across them.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Gold filigree, with sheet gold strips |
| Brief description | Pair of ear-drops, Mirzapur, India, about 1850 |
| Physical description | Pair of ear-drops, gold filigree with pendent sheet gold strips. Each has a gold rosette, from which hangs a bird, and below that two bell-shaped pendents of gold filigree, one above the other. Each section has a filigree frame onto which are soldered gold granules, or circular cushions of spiralling wire surmounted by a slightly larger granule. Each pendent 'bell' has strips of sheet gold attached to it. |
| Dimensions |
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| Object history | Bought by the India Museum in 1855, probably from the Paris Exposition Universelle of that year. Transferred in 1879 from the India Museum to the South Kensington Museum, which later became the Victoria & Albert Museum. |
| Summary | The shape of these ear-drops is a development of a traditional Indian form. The rosette is called a karanphul ('ear-flower'), which may first have been combined with the bell-shaped pendant in the 17th century. This example has two bell pendants instead of the usual single form. The small strips of thin sheet gold hanging from the 'bells' tremble with the slightest movement, causing light to flicker across them. |
| Bibliographic reference | Susan Stronge, Nima Smith, and J.C. Harle. A Golden Treasury : Jewellery from the Indian Subcontinent London : Victoria and Albert Museum in association with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1988. ISBN: 0944142168
p.65
STRONGE, Susan, Nima Smith and James Harle, A Golden Treasury. Jewellery from the Indian subcontinent, London, 1988, catalogue number 56, p.65
Ekaterina Schcherbina, ed., India: Jewels That Enchanted the World. Moscow Kremlin Museums, 2014, cat. 59, p. 138. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 03303&A/(IS) |
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| Record created | February 26, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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