An enamelled diamond-set and pearl turban ornament (turra). Probably Hyderabad, Mughal India, 19th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2014
With an s-shaped hook decorated with enamelled roundel design and topped with a diamond-set palmette supporting a gold rosette similarly set with diamonds, each lobe of the rosette issuing a single large pearl, and the base with eight further strands of pearls from which issue smaller gold rosettes each with a central diamond; 6 7/8in. (17.5cm.) high (overall). Estimate: £10,000 – £15,000
Literature: The Indian Heritage. Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, Victoria and Albert Museum, 21 April - 22 August 1982, no.312, p.110
Exhibited: The Indian Heritage. Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, Victoria and Albert Museum, 21 April - 22 August 1982
Notes: This ornament (turra) would have been worn at the side of a turban, hanging down past the ear - probably as part of a set with a sarpech mounted at the front. A similar example to that offered here, with rosette terminal and suspended pearls, is published in Thomas Holbein Hendley, Indian Jewellery, re-printed and updated by Waltraud Ganguly, Delhi, 2009, pl.3A.
For a contemporary photograph of a turra being worn by Sir Prabhu Narayan Singh Bahadur, the Maharaja of Benares (1855-1931) see Usha R Bala Kirshnan and Meera Sushil Kumar, Dance of the Peacock. Jewellery Traditions of India, Mumbai, 2010, no.423, p.312.
Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC AND INDIAN WORLDS INCLUDING A PRIVATE COLLECTION DONATED TO BENEFIT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, PART V, 10 April 2014, London, King Street - www.christies.com