Silver and Gold

Presents unique Indian jewels in all their glory, and as a visual language communicating design, aesthetics, tradition and the artistic expression of adorning the body.

More than 40 years ago, two friends, united by a passion for the decorative arts, embarked on an exploration of the unique jewels of India. They were motivated by the everyday jewels of the people in the villages—to discover the sources of their inspiration and to unravel the complex ritual of adornment that resulted in ornaments being fabricated for every part of the body, from the top of the head to the toes. The result was the creation of the Amrapali Collection of Indian Jewellery, one of the largest collections of pastoral silver jewellery in the world.

The manifold communities that this collection represents come from different religions, with linguistic differences and diverse cultural sensibilities, but the land that the jewels encompass is geographically contiguous. They exhibit the amazing technical expertise of simple gold- and silversmiths. This volume presents the jewels in all their glory, and as a visual language communicating design, aesthetics, tradition and, above all, the artistic expression of adorning the body.

Dr. Usha R. Balakrishnan is the Chief Curator of the World Diamond Museum and a preeminent historian of Indian jewelry. She is the author of several publications, including Alamkara: The Beauty of Ornament, and has co-authored most recently Treasures of the Deccan: Jewels of the Nizams, one of the two-volume publication devoted to the fabulous jewels and seminal collection of paintings inherited by the Nizams of Hyderabad. Her curatorial projects include India: Jewels that Enchanted the World at the Moscow Kremlin Museum, Enduring Splendor: The Jewelry of India’s Thar Desert at the Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, and Shringara: Adornment at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) Museum, Mumbai.