Beyond Extravagance

This catalog highlights a spectacular collection of Indian jewels owned by the ruling family of Qatar, the House of Thani. Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani acquired a vast collection of Indian jewelry including some the world’s rarest pieces. He now owns a large number of jeweled objects that originally belonged to India’s Mughal rulers. There is no comparable collection .The catalog itself is also quite stunning, with full-page illustrations of exquisitely detailed Mughal miniatures and intricate jeweled objects. The miniature paintings show the objects worn or in use: a turban ornament on one page flanked by a facing page of a Mughal miniature showing Muhammad Shad presenting a turban ornament to Maharaja Raj Singh of Kishangarh. The volume throws new light on the fusion of traditional Indian jewelry with western gem technology and techniques highlighting a subject that is not studied as well as it deserves to be.