Among the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, spinels and sapphires glistening in deliberately darkened galleries are the earliest known example of Mughal jade, the spectacular Timur ruby on loan from the Queen and even a jewel-encrusted backscratcher.
These are some of the riches at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London’s Bejewelled Treasures exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday.
More than 100 objects owned by Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family, have been loaned to the V&A for the show, which explores 400 years of Indian jewellery. It is being staged as part of the museum’s India festival.
It includes the earliest known example of Mughal jade in the shape of a wine cup made for the early 17th-century emperor Jahangir, as well as modern jewellery made as recently as last year.
The 4ft (1.2 metre) long, 18th-century backscratcher, probably owned by Robert Clive of India, is made from nephrite jade with a tiny ruby and emerald set in gold.
On one level, the show will appeal to anyone who enjoys looking at the most out of reach and dazzling jewellery that exists anywhere. But the curator, Susan Stronge, hopes people will also be interested in the stories behind the jewels.
“You’re able to see the very important position of jewellery in Indian society at all times and at many levels,” she said. “Indian courts have always had huge treasuries ... if you lose the treasury you lose power, so jewellery has a fundamental importance in Indian history.”
As well as the objects from the Al Thani collection, the Queen has lent three pieces from the crown jewels including a spectacular whopper called the Timur ruby, erroneously named since it was never owned by Timur, the 14th-century conqueror of central Asia; nor is it a ruby.
It is in fact a very large, 352-carat spinel, a type of red stone found in Badakhshan, which Stronge said was “valued above any other precious stone at the Mughal court”. The spinel was owned by Jahangir in the 17th century and in 1851 it was given to Queen Victoria after the British annexed the Punjab.
Martin Roth, director of the V&A, said the exhibition was a spectacular element of the museum’s India festival, which includes the first important exhibition exploring handmade textiles from India, as well as installations, smaller displays and a series of lectures and debates.
“This is a fascinating insight into a great private collection that includes extraordinary precious stones, both unmounted and set into jewels,” Roth said. “The exquisite quality and craftsmanship of many fine pieces from and inspired by India complement the V&A’s own south Asian and jewellery collections.”
• Bejewelled Treasures: the Al Thani Collection is at the V&A from 21 November to 28 March.
