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Not on display

Nose Ring

20th century (made)
Place of origin

A small nose ring with the top half made of a tapering hollow loop filled with lac which slots into the other end of the ring which is made from a hollow length of coiled gold wire that is decorated with a string of tiny seed pearls coiled round its length with a decorative gold ring set with alternate turquoise and red glass stones. At the bottom of the hollow wire coil the remainder of the ring is made of the continuation of the wire which is threaded with a pair of pearls, two green glass disc-shaped beads and a faceted red glass bead separated by die-stamped simulated granular rings. Another ring with applied quatrefoils alternating with applied lozenges of green or red glass set in lac is threaded onto the ring between more tiny seed pearls wrapped round the underlying cylinder. These decorative motifs on this element are mirrored in the three lozenges and interlinking quatrefoils which are soldered onto the front of the wide end of the tapering loop at the top.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Gold, pearls, glass and turquoise
Brief description
nose ring
Physical description
A small nose ring with the top half made of a tapering hollow loop filled with lac which slots into the other end of the ring which is made from a hollow length of coiled gold wire that is decorated with a string of tiny seed pearls coiled round its length with a decorative gold ring set with alternate turquoise and red glass stones. At the bottom of the hollow wire coil the remainder of the ring is made of the continuation of the wire which is threaded with a pair of pearls, two green glass disc-shaped beads and a faceted red glass bead separated by die-stamped simulated granular rings. Another ring with applied quatrefoils alternating with applied lozenges of green or red glass set in lac is threaded onto the ring between more tiny seed pearls wrapped round the underlying cylinder. These decorative motifs on this element are mirrored in the three lozenges and interlinking quatrefoils which are soldered onto the front of the wide end of the tapering loop at the top.
Dimensions
  • Weight: 5.1g
  • Height: 3.5cm
  • Width: 3cm
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. She bought it from Amrapali in January 2007 together with Prov.1260-2015 and Prov.1260-2015, which share similar decorative characteristics and the same means of fastening. It cost 148 Euros.
Bibliographic reference
Ganguly, W., Nose Rings of India, Delhi, 2015 p.120, illus.
Collection
Accession number
IS.423-2019

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Record createdJune 23, 2015
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