SOUTH INDIA OR DECCAN, 18TH CENTURY

Details

AN INDIAN LARGE GOLD RING
SOUTH INDIA OR DECCAN, 18TH CENTURY
The octagonal box bezel with hinged flat top decorated with finely worked wire designs, the top surmounted by a large bird with spread wings and pronounced tail, a pendant emerald in its beak, the body decorated with wire-work detailing, the entire top hinged and fastened, opening to reveal the interior, the hoop of the ring with wire-work and granulated designs, the shoulders with two applied further larger birds with everted heads, a lozenge motif at the back
Overall 2 3/8in. (6cm.) deep

Special notice

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Sale room notice

Please note that this lot is withdrawn from the sale.

Lot Essay

There is a tradition in South India for placing birds on the bezels of rings. In addition to the rings in lots 387-389, and those noted in the footnotes, there is an enamel example in a private collection (A Kaleidoscope of Colours, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp 1997, no.76, p.97, and one in these Rooms, 23 September 2005, lot 108). In the present example the whole top of the bezel can hinge up revealing a concealed compartment.

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