The words this collection is described in

Glossary terms

Aadh

Aadh is a Rajasthani necklace worn flat against the throat: a broad, slightly curved gold plate, generally set with uncut stones on the face and enamelled on the reverse, held by a cord that passes behind the neck.

Basra pearl

Basra pearl is the trade name for a natural, non-cultured pearl fished from the Persian Gulf and historically traded through the Iraqi port of Basra.

Bidri

Bidri is a metalwork technique from Bidar in the Deccan.

Filigree

Filigree is openwork made from drawn wire.

Gangaur

Gangaur is a Rajasthani spring festival honouring Gauri, the consort of Shiva, held over eighteen days beginning the day after Holi.

Ganjifa

Ganjifa are circular playing cards, hand-painted on lacquered board, cloth or ivory, and used in India from the Mughal period onward.

Hasli

A hasli is a rigid torque worn close around the base of the throat, named for the collarbone — hansuli — whose line it follows.

Hoysala

The Hoysalas ruled parts of the southern Deccan from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, with capitals at Belur, Halebidu and Dvarasamudra.

Jadau

Jadau is the composite goldsmithing practice in which uncut stones are embedded into gold by the kundan method while the reverse of the same piece is enamelled in meenakari.

Karni bharni

Karni bharni means, in substance, that what is done is what is received.

Koftgari

Koftgari is the damascening of iron and steel with precious metal.

Kundan

Kundan is a setting technique, not a stone.

Meenakari

Meenakari is the art of enamelling metal.

Mukhnal

A mukhnal is the mouthpiece of a hookah: the short detachable tip through which the smoker draws, fitted to the end of the flexible pipe.

Pesh-kabz

A pesh-kabz is a Persian and Indian dagger with a single-edged blade, straight or slightly recurved, thick at the spine and T-sectioned for rigidity, tapering to a reinforced point made to pierce mail.

Pichwai

A pichwai is a painted or embroidered cloth hung behind the image of Shrinathji in Vallabhacharya temples, above all at Nathdwara in Rajasthan.

Pochi

Pochi is a Rajasthani wrist ornament: several rows of small beads or pearls strung between two enamelled gold terminals and drawn tight with a cord.

Polki

A polki is a diamond used in its natural state, uncut or barely cleaved, with its original crystal faces left intact and a metal foil placed behind it to return light through the stone.

Ragamala

A ragamala is a set of paintings that gives a figure to the modes of Indian classical music.

Sanjhi

Sanjhi is the Braj craft of cutting stencils from paper with fine scissors and using them to lay coloured powder into images of Krishna, on the ground or on the surface of water.

Sarpech

A sarpech is a turban ornament worn at the front of the turban by rulers and nobles in Mughal and Rajput India.

Shamsa

A shamsa is a sunburst rosette: a radiating medallion, usually gilded and richly illuminated, placed on an opening page of a manuscript or an album.

Tevta

Tevta is a Rajasthani neck ornament: small gold plaques or beads, commonly enamelled, strung in a row on a cord that fastens behind the neck so the piece sits high on the throat.

Thewa

Thewa is a goldwork technique from Pratapgarh in Rajasthan.

Vijayanagara

Vijayanagara was a South Indian empire founded in 1336, centred on its capital at Hampi on the Tungabhadra river and sacked in 1565.

Wasli

Wasli is the laminated paper support of Indian miniature painting.