Jennifer Tonkin
Co-Head of Department UK
Lot 279
A ruby necklace
11 September 2019, 11:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £4,812.50 inc. premium
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A ruby necklace
Designed as a series of spheres, each set throughout with circular ruby cabochons in foiled closed-back settings, one ruby deficient, length 48.5cm
Footnotes
This necklace showcases the Kundan style of setting gemstones used for centuries within Indian jewellery. The traditional and elegant technique allows gemstones to be set into metal without any claws or prongs, using strips of an extremely pure and ductile form of gold manipulated to form a mount around each gem without the need for heat. Foil backings are also used to enhance each gemstone's appearance.
Kundan jewellery flourished during the Mughal dynasty in India, a period stretching from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Emperors bedecked themselves in the very finest of jewels, showcasing their immense wealth, while the power and nobility of their surrounding courtiers could also be identified by clothing and jewellery. After the British Raj was formed in 1858, Indian jewellery increasingly incorporated Western-style techniques like claw settings and the kundan style gradually declined in popularity. It remains however, a distinctive technique characterising much Indian jewellery.