India: Historical Research

These are pages from the book on India that I got from the library.

These are brides. This page is from the section on Marriage jewelry. Nose rings are typical, thoguh certainly not the only piece of jewelry worn for the ceromony.

These two pages contain enameling work. Often, the enamel work is either foral or figure based. These images are foral based b/c that's what I wanted to include in my project.

I'm making a nosering based on my research. It is a piece of marriage jewelry. I want the front of the piece to be fairly traditional. I chased and repoussed shapes to be stones on the front. I enameld them to look like coral, topaz, and an emerald, all of which were common in India. I also enemeld a foral pattern in between the stones. Currently I'm working on some actually sotne settings for the front. The back is etched with an abstracted pattern of a couple symbols. I find it really interesting that the dowry is the only thing that the bride is legally allowed to own once married, and am trying to play off that idea.

Sorry if the pictures are hard to see. It's the best I could do.