A benefit to traveling with the girls: shopping! John and the kids just aren't with me on this one. I should rephrase. It's not shopping I love; it's browsing. I just want to see what's out there, you know?
After lunch, we stopped at a jewelry shop owned by a family that has discovered that you can draw people in if you have cool things to show them. They have a little museum in the entryway and then three rooms of splendor for sale (for those with a lot of money to spare).
The family artisans have traditionally created these incredibly ornate tapestries that are covered in needlework and precious and semi-precious stones. Here's detail from a huge (not for sale) tapestry that depicts the Taj Mahal.
The full piece, which is much larger than it appears in this photo. I should have made Cheryl stand next to it for scale ...
That's Shah Jahan and the beloved Mumtaz front and center ...
More details, because, seriously ...
The family has collected artifacts from the old Mughal families, some of it in payment for jewelry (or so they say). Whatever the provenance, I loved these old illuminated books.
This is a perfume box. Fancy, no?
The entryway is dominated by a huge, bejeweled tapestry with what I think is a rose quartz in the center. It also had cabochon rubies and emeralds, tiger's eye, amethyst ... oh yeah, and gold and silver thread woven throughout.
Then we went through the magic doorway into the jewelry gallery, where this ridiculously jeweled elephant was on prominent display.
That's an ivory Hanuman on the elephant's brow ...
They had some antique pieces, like this one with enamelwork over the back ...
Here's the front ...
... and modeled by the lovely Cheryl ...
I liked this one in the navaratna style ...
In most traditional Indian jewelry, the gems are cabochon, which means they're polished round instead of faceted. This bracelet was the other Amy's favorite piece ...
My favorite was this square cut aquamarine and diamonds ... anything but traditional ...
Kristina tried on this antique set with rubies and diamonds, worth several thousand $$ ...
I didn't buy anything, however sorely I was tempted, but others did ... I won't mention names ...
After seeing the jewelry we headed into the tapestry showroom, where we found this jeweled replica of the lost Peacock Throne. The throne originally belonged to Shah Jahan and sat in the palace at Agra Fort. The Persians hauled it off in the mid-1700s and then somehow lost it when their king was assassinated. The assumption is that it was dismantled for the jewels, one of which is the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond that eventually made its way into Queen Elizabeth's crown (which we saw at the Tower of London last year). Truth is crazier than fiction!
More jeweled tapestries. I can't imagine hanging one of these in my home, but I loved the colors ...
This was such a fun stop! Never in a million years would I have set foot in this shop with the kids in tow. It was definitely the girliest part of our girls trip.
After lunch, we stopped at a jewelry shop owned by a family that has discovered that you can draw people in if you have cool things to show them. They have a little museum in the entryway and then three rooms of splendor for sale (for those with a lot of money to spare).
The family artisans have traditionally created these incredibly ornate tapestries that are covered in needlework and precious and semi-precious stones. Here's detail from a huge (not for sale) tapestry that depicts the Taj Mahal.
The full piece, which is much larger than it appears in this photo. I should have made Cheryl stand next to it for scale ...
That's Shah Jahan and the beloved Mumtaz front and center ...
More details, because, seriously ...
The family has collected artifacts from the old Mughal families, some of it in payment for jewelry (or so they say). Whatever the provenance, I loved these old illuminated books.
This is a perfume box. Fancy, no?
The entryway is dominated by a huge, bejeweled tapestry with what I think is a rose quartz in the center. It also had cabochon rubies and emeralds, tiger's eye, amethyst ... oh yeah, and gold and silver thread woven throughout.
Then we went through the magic doorway into the jewelry gallery, where this ridiculously jeweled elephant was on prominent display.
That's an ivory Hanuman on the elephant's brow ...
They had some antique pieces, like this one with enamelwork over the back ...
Here's the front ...
... and modeled by the lovely Cheryl ...
I liked this one in the navaratna style ...
In most traditional Indian jewelry, the gems are cabochon, which means they're polished round instead of faceted. This bracelet was the other Amy's favorite piece ...
My favorite was this square cut aquamarine and diamonds ... anything but traditional ...
Kristina tried on this antique set with rubies and diamonds, worth several thousand $$ ...
I didn't buy anything, however sorely I was tempted, but others did ... I won't mention names ...
After seeing the jewelry we headed into the tapestry showroom, where we found this jeweled replica of the lost Peacock Throne. The throne originally belonged to Shah Jahan and sat in the palace at Agra Fort. The Persians hauled it off in the mid-1700s and then somehow lost it when their king was assassinated. The assumption is that it was dismantled for the jewels, one of which is the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond that eventually made its way into Queen Elizabeth's crown (which we saw at the Tower of London last year). Truth is crazier than fiction!
More jeweled tapestries. I can't imagine hanging one of these in my home, but I loved the colors ...
Last stop was another heirloom jewelry showroom, where we ooohed and aaaahed some more.
This was such a fun stop! Never in a million years would I have set foot in this shop with the kids in tow. It was definitely the girliest part of our girls trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment