Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/117

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mounted on the arms, although most of them are mere chips and scales. The examples of rose diamonds and brilliants are pro- bably of European cutting. The rose is a hemisphere covered with facets, and the brilliant, the ancient clou , cut above with thirty-two facets, and below with twenty-four. There are some fine Hindu necklets of pearls and enamel, and “ tallow drop ” emer- alds; and chains, bracelets, and pendants starred with gems ; but the loveliest jewel of all is a hair comb made at Jaipur [Plate 55]. The setting is of emerald and ruby Jaipur enamels painted on gold, surmounted by a curved row, all on a level, of large pearls, each tipped with a green glass bead. Below these lovely pearls is a row of small brilliants, set among the elegantly designed green and red enamelled gold leaves which support the pearls ; then a row of small pearls with a brilliant-set enamelled scroll running between it and a third row of pearls, below which is a continuous row of minute brilliants, forming the lower edge of the comb, just above the gold prongs. It is superb in design, and one of the most finished pieces of Indian jewelry that has been made in modern times. The pearls are of very great price, and the whole effect is most brilliant, rich, and refined.

Scindia’s great chain of pearls has been an heirloom in his family for generations. Three of the end pearls in a large pen- dant of flat diamonds and pearls are worthy of the “triple-gemmed earrings ” [ Ip/iara rplyXrjvi a fjiop ocrra] of Juno as described by Homer xiv 183 :

“Fair beaming pendants tremble in her ear, Each seems illumined with a triple star , u

And Od . xviii 298]

“Earrings bright, With triple stars that cast a trembling light.”

Gem engraving is an immemorial Eastern art, as the cylinders of Nineveh and Babylon and Fersepolis testify, and Delhi has