jewelry of the Maharajahs

Lecture on the jewelry of the Maharajahs
(on 24/11/08)
By Dr Amin Jaffer
At Dar al Athar al Islamiyah, Kuwait

A very interesting lecture with visuals of historical documents and a glimpse of Indian Princes’ life during their glory.
Description of Princes was always preceded by great, fabulous; jewelry by famous, best, beautiful, most.
Numbers added up: One Maharajah commissioned 149 piece of jewelry, the Patiala necklace had 3000 diamonds some of which were 240 carats yellow diamonds, another necklace had a 140 carats central diamond, the maharani purchased 100 pairs of shoes from Salvatore Ferragamo, the two tier necklace had 2 pink diamonds of 14 carats each and one blue diamond of 22 carats…
Quality workmanship and beauty of stones and setting are fundamentals of these jewels worn in India. With the new techniques of the west, the setting of diamonds in platinum had added more light and sparkle. Taste and desires of the princes had also impacted the production of different styles in the jewelry ateliers of Paris. Ferragamo made ladies shoes with stones and diamonds on black velvet. John Lobb kept the footprint of a prince in his record.
Brancusi, the artist, had traveled to India to design a meditation and prayer hall after the Maharajah of Indore had bought two sculptures of visual elegance. Brancusi was tired of waiting and the hall was never built
If we were not in the Financial crisis of the end of 2008, one would think that this would be a subsidiary of the “how to spend it” by FT. Today one can reflect on the end of an era and the fall of legendary extravaganza.