comprising twenty-five pendants in the form of stylised blossoms with a central, larger pendant featuring facing birds, each set in the kundan technique with turquoise and mounted seed pearls, the reverse with red, green, blue and white enamel details, golden thread string with tassel terminals, fitted in custom box; 90cm. completely extended; 33cm. area of beads 

Provenance: Ex-Cecil family collection, UK, since the late nineteenth century.

Note: Sumptuous yet restrained in colour and design, this necklace exemplifies the elegance of nineteenth-century Indian jewellery. Passed down since the nineteenth century through the Cecil family, this necklace is referred to as the ‘Palmerston' necklace as according to family oral tradition it was gifted by the 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) to an ancestor in the nineteenth century. Mounted entirely with turquoise stones within gold settings, the underside of this necklace reveals rich green, red and white enamel tones and detailed floral motifs typical of Mughal ornamentation. The turquoise itself most probably came from a Persian mine, and it is extremely rare to see it used exclusively on Indian jewels, which usually favour colourful combinations of stones. This may be an indication of the influence of English taste in the Subcontinent and was possibly originally created as a private commission. 

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World, London, 25 oct. 2017, 10:30 AM