Necklace

This single-row necklace is composed of seventeen brilliant-cut, triangular shaped diamonds suspended with gold-collared emeralds of Columbian origin, surmounted by baroque pearls. The diamond-drops, increasing in size towards the centre, are linked together by strands of diamond set beads, the reverse of which are decorated with delicate pink (known as 'gulabi mina'; derived from the Persian gulab, meaning rose) and white enamel flowers, typical of the Varanasi style (formerly known as Benares). The fine pink enamel associated with Varanasi supposedly arrived with emigrant Persian enamellists around the 11th century AH/17th century CE, when the city was under Mughal control; known as “pink firing” (gulabi ki anch dena) – a process that required five separate applications – this technique highlights both the skill of its artisan and the importance of its wearer. Moreover, the spectacular size and colourless quality of the diamonds, sourced from the famed Golconda mines in the Deccan – which for centuries remained the sole supplier of diamonds throughout the world – coupled with the deep green emeralds demonstrates the noble status for whom this necklace was commissioned.