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What are the main jewellery techniques of Rajasthan?
Five carry most of the work. Kundan is a cold-setting technique using purified gold foil. Meenakari is fired glass enamel in cut gold recesses. Polki is uncut natural diamond set on foil. Jadau describes the combination of kundan setting with meenakari on the reverse. Thewa, from Pratapgarh, fuses pierced gold to coloured glass. They are methods, not styles, and a single ornament often uses three.
The words are used loosely in the market and precisely in a workshop. Almost every confusion about Rajasthani jewellery comes from treating a technique as a look: "kundan" sold as a style, "polki" sold as a grade. In the jewellery gallery they are catalogued as what they are — operations performed in a fixed order by different hands.
In this entry
- Kundan. Cold-worked gold, and why it exists at all.
- Meenakari. Firing order, the colours of Jaipur, and the back of the piece.
- Polki and its relatives. Uncut diamond, foil backing, and what "lustre" means here.
- Jadau. The combination, and why the reverse is often the better face.
- Thewa. Pratapgarh, the families who practise it, the geographical indication.
- The forms. Aadh, hasli, sarpech, pochi, bajuband — what each is worn on.
- Reading a case. Six things to look for, in order.
Why the back of the piece matters
A Rajasthani ornament of any quality is finished on both sides. The front carries stones; the back carries enamel, and the enamel is frequently the more demanding work, because it was made to be seen only by the wearer and by whoever helped her dress. This is the single most useful habit to acquire in front of a case: ask what the reverse looks like, and notice which museums show it to you.
The same logic governs the worn objects in accessories and the enamelled boxes and vessels in decorative arts, where the technique is identical and the object is not jewellery at all.