Maharajas' Jewels

The fascinating stories of Indian princes and their jewelry and precious stones are brought together in this sumptuously illustrated narrative tracing the rise and fall of India's leading royal houses through the dramatic fortunes of their crown jewels. Famed since antiquity as a supreme source of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, the Indian subcontinent afforded untold symbols of power and prestige to its many kings. From the sixteenth century forward, these stone were sought with unscrupulous avidity by the crowned heads of Europe, but even the rapacity of the British Empire failed to devour all of India's treasures. In the twentieth century, in a final flowering of regal splendor, many maharajas traveled to the West to have their jewels reset by the most prestigious jewelers of Paris, London, and Rome. It is this encounter between Indian princely magnificence and the best of European jewelry design that forms the book's centerpiece. The authors offer a fresh, vigorous text drawing on original material from a wide range of government and private archives, and featuring many hitherto unpublished pictures alongside more familiar ones. From Sanskrit dramatists extolling the riches of India to the finest of modern Europe's jewelers crossing Asia in search of royal clients, a broad gamut of real voices and resplendent images brings to life the story of India's royal gems.