Nose Ring
20th century (made)
Place of origin |
A large nose ring called a sheesha nath in gold with glass ornaments. A tapering facetted hollow gold arc slots into a section of coiled gold wire, the central portion of which is wrapped in a spiral of fine gold wire, which extends round the back of a large floral motif and onto which are threaded blue and a dark red glass beads and gold beads with gold granulated spacers in between. It further connects with a cone-shaped sheet of stamped gold bisected by a gold granulated disc and a diamond-shaped gold setting for a green glass inset. This completes the circle of the ringout of which curves the facetted gold arc. The floral motif is decorated with red glass insets on the petals and a green glass inset in the cetnre. The tips of the petals have small granulated motifs which also are garlanded with tiny hollow gold rings threaded onto wire with tiny blue beads at the apex of each petal. The reverse of this motif has three hoops through which is threaded the gold wire of the nose ring. The central hoop has an additional gold ring onto which a chain or thread could be attached and secured in the wearer's hair.
Object details
Category | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | gold with glass ornaments |
Brief description | Nose ring from the desert regions of Sindh, Pakistan. Gold and glass |
Physical description | A large nose ring called a sheesha nath in gold with glass ornaments. A tapering facetted hollow gold arc slots into a section of coiled gold wire, the central portion of which is wrapped in a spiral of fine gold wire, which extends round the back of a large floral motif and onto which are threaded blue and a dark red glass beads and gold beads with gold granulated spacers in between. It further connects with a cone-shaped sheet of stamped gold bisected by a gold granulated disc and a diamond-shaped gold setting for a green glass inset. This completes the circle of the ringout of which curves the facetted gold arc. The floral motif is decorated with red glass insets on the petals and a green glass inset in the cetnre. The tips of the petals have small granulated motifs which also are garlanded with tiny hollow gold rings threaded onto wire with tiny blue beads at the apex of each petal. The reverse of this motif has three hoops through which is threaded the gold wire of the nose ring. The central hoop has an additional gold ring onto which a chain or thread could be attached and secured in the wearer's hair. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Dr W. Ganguly |
Object history | This nose ring is part of the large donation of Indian folk jewellery from Dr Waltraud Ganguly which was collected over the last few decades before her death in 2015 from dealers in both India and Europe, in parallel with extensive fieldwork she carried out in the Indian Sub-Continent. Dr. Ganguly purchased this ring from Amrapali, Jaipur in March 2010 |
Historical context | Nose rings of this bold type with brightly coloured glass belong to then mainly Muslim desert dwellers of the Thar desrt area around Barmer, Rajasthan, and the adjacent regions in Sindh, Pakistan and Gujarat. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | IS.255-2019 |
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Record created | May 19, 2015 |
Record URL |
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