A RUBY-INSET 18 CARAT GOLD (292 GRAMS) ‘JASMINE BUD’ BRIDAL NECKLACE, MALLIGAI ARUMBU MALAI, TAMIL NADU, 19TH CENTURY

South India. Superbly modeled as 61 individual stylized buds of Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac), each fashioned from 18-carat solid gold and set with a ruby below an engraved foliate element, suspended from tightly woven gold filigree strings encased within further engraved interlocking floral and leaf lappets, all terminating in a broad clasp incised with a fish and secured by a removable cylindrical pin.

Provenance: From the private collection of Pierluigi and Celestina C., Milan, Italy, assembled since the 1970s. Pierluigi C. was born in Marignano, Italy, at the end of the Second World War. Trained as an architect with a strong humanistic background, his passion for the Orient emerged through his future wife, Celestina. Her interest in India had been shaped by Sonali Dasgupta, wife of Roberto Rossellini, who ran a boutique in Rome specializing in Indian jewelry and objects. By the 1970s, their shared curiosity turned into collecting, fostered through contacts with travelers returning from India and Nepal—spiritual seekers as well as scholars who often entered the antiquities trade—through whom they began assembling a wide-ranging collection from across Asia. In the 1980s, with Tibet newly reopened, they embarked on nearly two decades of journeys throughout the Himalayan regions, increasingly guided by the writings of the Italian orientalist Giuseppe Tucci. Pierluigi also studied Tibetan at the Ghe Pel Ling Institute in Milan and developed a focused research interest in Tibetan carpets, forming a collection of several hundred examples conceived for iconographic and didactic study. This work culminated in the traveling exhibition L’anno del dragone (from 1991) and in his publication Tappeti del Tibet e della vecchia Cina (1991), the first Italian-language study devoted to the subject.
Condition: Excellent condition with only minor wear and traces of use.

Weight: 292.3 g
Dimensions: Length 66 cm

Net gold value: The value of 292 grams of 18-carat gold at the time of writing was approx. EUR 30,000.

The distinctive design of the necklace derives from the ethnic Indian culture of the Tamil Nadu and Kerala region, where such necklaces would have been worn by the bride during their traditional wedding.

The form of this necklace recalls the flower garlands central to Indian secular and religious life, used to welcome guests, adorn temple deities, or bless a bride and groom. In Hindu belief, flowers carry specific divine associations: the spirit of Sridevi is thought to dwell within garlands, while Kamadeva is known as Kusumayudha (armed with flowers) and Pushpa-sara (whose arrows are flowers). Although real garlands inevitably wither, their translation into durable materials allows both form and auspicious meaning to endure, preserving what was once fleeting in a permanent medium (see Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India, London, 1997, p. 33).

The jasmine bud necklace is particularly associated with Tamil-speaking areas in the South of India. The wearing of Jasmine buds has a long history there: the Silappatikaram, a second century Tamil epic, at one point describes the tragic lover Kovalan wearing “a garland of jasmine buds, their hearts forced open by bees” (see Usha R. Bala Krishnan and Meera Sushil Kumar, Dance of the Peacock: Jewellery Traditions of India, Mumbai, 1999, p. 102).

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related ruby-inset gold jasmine bud necklace, dated to the 19^th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 2008.190.308. Compare a closely related gold jasmine bud necklace inset with red semi-precious stones, dated to late 19^th-early 20^th century, 92 cm long, in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1990.4, illustrated by Usha R. Bala Krishnan and Meera Sushil Kumar, Dance of the Peacock: Jewellery Traditions of India, Mumbai, 1999, p. 102, cat. no. 145, where it is dated to the 19^th century. Compare a closely related ruby-inset gold jasmine bud necklace, dated to the 19^th century, 82.5 cm long, in the Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva, and illustrated ibid., p. 103, cat. no. 146.

Auction result compareson:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 9 October 2014, lot 61
Price: HKD 500,000 or approx. EUR 70,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gilt and embellished 'jasmine buds' bridal necklace, Indian, 19^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related design and modeling of the embellished jasmine buds. Note the size (73.3 cm). Note also that in 2014, when this necklace was sold, the price for 292 g 18-carat gold was approx. EUR 9,000, while today it is approx. EUR 30,000.

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