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Nose Ring

20th century (made)
Place of origin

A large and heavy nose ring, sheesha nath, is made in gold with pearl and glass decoration. It has a hollow curved gold tube at the top which fits into a coil of gold wire for closure on the right hand side. The central part of the ring is ornamented with a pierced cast motif of two adorsed peacocks (mayur) set with coloured glass under a row of finials with white glass beads each topped with a small green bead and five gold granules. A string of seed pearls runs round the sides and lower edge of bird motif and it is attached to the ring by a continuation of the coiled closing wire on the right running across its back through a central loop to the other sides where it, too, is coiled round the main gold loop. Both these coils are adorned with twists of fine gold wire round two of their coils. Two further gold bars are looped over the wire of the lower part of the nose ring on eith side at the back and slotted into two hollow gold square-sectioned lengths attached to the back of the chests of the birds to keep the central motif rigid. A cast quadrangular motif with small roundels at each corner set in red and green glass is threaded through a similar square-sectioned attached fixing on the right hand side whereas the left hand side has a small peacock motif above a stylised element both of which are set with coloured glass and tiny pendants of twisted gold wire, minute seed pearls and green or blue glass beads.
An unrelated gold jhumka with a flattened dome, ornamented with two rows of babul work, with gold pendants is loosely tied on with a two-ply length of cord.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
gold. pearls and glass
Brief description
Nose ring from the Thar desert region of Rajasthan, or from adjacent area in Sindh or Gujarat. Gold and glass with a pendant attached by a length of string.
Physical description
A large and heavy nose ring, sheesha nath, is made in gold with pearl and glass decoration. It has a hollow curved gold tube at the top which fits into a coil of gold wire for closure on the right hand side. The central part of the ring is ornamented with a pierced cast motif of two adorsed peacocks (mayur) set with coloured glass under a row of finials with white glass beads each topped with a small green bead and five gold granules. A string of seed pearls runs round the sides and lower edge of bird motif and it is attached to the ring by a continuation of the coiled closing wire on the right running across its back through a central loop to the other sides where it, too, is coiled round the main gold loop. Both these coils are adorned with twists of fine gold wire round two of their coils. Two further gold bars are looped over the wire of the lower part of the nose ring on eith side at the back and slotted into two hollow gold square-sectioned lengths attached to the back of the chests of the birds to keep the central motif rigid. A cast quadrangular motif with small roundels at each corner set in red and green glass is threaded through a similar square-sectioned attached fixing on the right hand side whereas the left hand side has a small peacock motif above a stylised element both of which are set with coloured glass and tiny pendants of twisted gold wire, minute seed pearls and green or blue glass beads.
An unrelated gold jhumka with a flattened dome, ornamented with two rows of babul work, with gold pendants is loosely tied on with a two-ply length of cord.
Dimensions
  • Weight: 62.52g
  • Width: 8cm
  • Nose ring excluding the tied on jhumka height: 7.5cm
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 nose ring from Amrapali, Jaipur, in December 2008
Historical context
Nose rings of this type were predominantly worn by Muslim desert dwellers in the Thar desert.
Bibliographic references
  • Ganguly, W., Nose Rings of India, Delhi, 2015 p.84, illus
  • Indian folk jewellery : designs and techniques / Waltraud Ganguly. Number: 9789350502129, 9350502127 p.47, illus
Collection
Accession number
IS.259-2019

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Record createdMay 19, 2015
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