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Not on display

Nose Ring

20th century (made)
Place of origin

Nose ring, or besar, with a gold crescent-shaped fish design decorated with floral patterned granulation and a fringe of wired-on pearls. The hinged gold wire loop which completes the circle has a series of decorative elements individually loose-strung along its length with a meandering floral stem connecting the lower part of the two elipses. A pair of gold and pearl danglers with spiky babul work on top hang respectively from the bottom of the ring and from the floral pearl, turquoise and red stones (rubies or garnets) motif next to the closing end where the loop encloses a ring at the end of the crescent. The stones are set on a bed of red lac within a gold wire bezel mounting. The loop originally would have been secured with some kind of pin, now missing, but is now secured with a piece of silver wire twisted through the engaged rings. Further along the loop there is a large red gem-stone with pearls either side strung between two gold babul-work orbs, under which there are two floral-shaped elements with turquoises encircled with silver wire-strung pearls.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
gold, turquoise, ruby or garnet, pearls and lac with silver wire. Wirework, granulation and <i>babul</i> work
Brief description
Nose ring, nath, from Himachal Pradesh
Physical description
Nose ring, or besar, with a gold crescent-shaped fish design decorated with floral patterned granulation and a fringe of wired-on pearls. The hinged gold wire loop which completes the circle has a series of decorative elements individually loose-strung along its length with a meandering floral stem connecting the lower part of the two elipses. A pair of gold and pearl danglers with spiky babul work on top hang respectively from the bottom of the ring and from the floral pearl, turquoise and red stones (rubies or garnets) motif next to the closing end where the loop encloses a ring at the end of the crescent. The stones are set on a bed of red lac within a gold wire bezel mounting. The loop originally would have been secured with some kind of pin, now missing, but is now secured with a piece of silver wire twisted through the engaged rings. Further along the loop there is a large red gem-stone with pearls either side strung between two gold babul-work orbs, under which there are two floral-shaped elements with turquoises encircled with silver wire-strung pearls.
Dimensions
  • Weight: 22g
  • Width: 5cm
  • Height: 6cm
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. It was bought from the dealer, Michael Beste, on 25th October 2007 for 2700 Euros.
Historical context
It is difficult to see how this ring was worn as the decorative motifs strung onto the fastening loop leave no room for it to pass through the nostril.
Bibliographic reference
Ganguly, W., Nose Rings of India, Delhi, 2015 p.59, illus
Collection
Accession number
IS.391-2019

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Record createdJune 23, 2015
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