Vogue India July 2016

eralds, sapphires and rubies of incomparable

beauty... Boucheron was commissioned to

transform this mass of precious stones, then

valued at about 18 hundred million francs, into

tiaras, aigrettes, belts and necklaces en cas-

cades and fringes to be worn under the sari.’’ A

year after this described encounter had taken

place, in 1928, Cartier famously produced for

him their most expensive and precious order of

all time. Legend relates that the prized Patiala

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with 2,930 diamonds adorning it and the

world’s seventh largest diamond, the famed De-

Beers, at its centre, took about three years for

Cartier’s master craftsmen to produce! After its

disappearance in 1948, remnants of the neck-

lace with most of the original gems missing

were recently recovered by Cartier, who have

since worked on a restoration using synthetic

and less expensive replacements.

Less famous, but equally exquisite, is the Pa-

tiala ruby choker, presumably gifted by the Ma-

harajah to his younger queen, Rani Yashoda

Devi, photographed sporting it as part of an

ensemble of three ruby necklaces, all designed

by Cartier. After another mysterious disap-

pearance, a slightly shortened bracelet form of

the necklace appeared in the market and was

repurchased by Cartier and restored to its orig-

inal form—upon which it was quickly acquired

for the private Al-Thani collection.

MAHARANI SITA DEVI AND THE

STAR OF THE SOUTH

The Baroda royal jewels inevitably evoke the

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the social strictures of her time and was la-

belled the ‘,QGLDQ :DOOLV 6LPSVRQ’. The second

wife of 3UDWDS6LQJK 5DR *DHNZDG WKHQ SXU

portedly the eighth richest man in the world),

her love for jewellery has been commented

upon, but the greater scandal is her comman-

deering of several of the royal pieces following

her separation from the maharajah, including,

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diamond. There’s also the legendary anecdote

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a 1957 society ball when the two women did

actually meet. The Duchess of Windsor wore a

diamond choker made from anklet jewels that

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Harry Winston. The choker was much admired

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the jewels had looked just as lovely on her feet!

The choker was supposedly then returned by a

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The treasury of Baroda was particularly en-

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reign in the 19th century. An avid jewellery en-

thusiast, the maharajah not only bought the

legendary seven-strand Baroda pearl necklace

dating back to the Mughal period but also com-

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necklace that he often sported, and the famed

three-tiered diamond necklace that held both

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78.5-carat English Dresden diamond.

FROM NAPOLEAN TO THE

NIZAM OF HYDERABAD

Of all UR\DOMHZHOOHU\ FROOHFWLRQV WKH 1L]DP RI

Hyderabad’s fabulous collection, now in the

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in splendour. Comprising over 300 individual

pieces, the collection includes gemstones, vari-

ous kinds of jewellery, and a star piece in the

form of the seven-stringed Basra pearl necklace

which has 465 pearls embedded in it. It isn’t all

size and shine however—it’s the stories set in

jewellery that make them so interesting, and

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tan, Russian Czars and even necklaces worn by

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SAYAJIRAO III, GAEKWAD
OF BARODA | JEHANGIR
SORABJEE, 1889
Sayajirao III, Gaekwad of Baroda,
poses for this photograph in full
regalia and is seen wearing the Baroda
seven-tiered diamond necklace, a
pearl-tasseled turban with an exquisite
diamond aigrette, a unique brooch
piece and carrying an ebony cane with
a golden head. Owner of a splendid
collection of jewels, Sayajirao was also
an avid patron of Western jewellers
and designers. He intended to have
Cartier redo all of his royal jewels in
platinum, though that commission
eventually fell through. Further, for
the engagement of his daughter
Indira Devi to Maharajah Madho Rao
of Gwalior, he purchased jewellery
from the Parisian fi rm Chaumet, and
records indicate that in the same
period he was also buying stock items
___ from Boucheron.
PRINCESS
RAFAT ZAMANI,
BEGUM SAHIBA OF
RAMPUR | KINSEY,
DELHI, C 1960
Princess Rafat Zamani,
Begum Sahiba of
Rampur, photographed
wearing a striking
diamond set, complete
with a Western-style
tiara. The begum and
her husband, a rather
Westernised royal
couple, set Rampur on
the path to modernity
and were one of the fi rst
to eschew purdah.

in

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