The jewellery of Kashmir

The jewellery of Kashmir

 

The jewellery of Kashmir is unique in design and very minutely worked. The various types of jewellery such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets,rings, rosary, tin or silver charm-cases and head-bands are all delicately worked, even though the base is sometimes solid. The Kashmiri jewellers seem to have had Nature as their model in most ornaments.The technique of making jewellery is still old and traditional but it has a unique and beautiful style of its own which is hard to imitate. Ornaments in Kashmir are generally made of gold and silver but, says Sufi, “sometimes beautiful colours of flowers and leaves and fruits are reproduced by studding jewellery with precious and semi-precious stones, shades such as jade, agate, turquoise, rubies and the gold-stone. There are necklaces made in yellow base metal, set with imitation emeralds and sapphires”.The notable thing about Kashmiri jewellery is that their designs are unlike those of other places, that is, kaleidoscopic arrangement of geometric figures. On the other hand, they carry the forms of products like almond, grapes, cherries and birds like myna, sparrows and bulbul.