Important Notice

Comprising polki diamonds set in a crescent with a ruby cabochon on top, suspending a fringe of pearls and green beads. The reverse is engraved in foliate motifs. Accompanied by a string of pearls on top as support.

Gross Weight: 12.31 grams


A maang tika is a forehead ornament worn where the hair is parted (maang), hanging down till the centre of the forehead. It is traditionally considered an essential part of a woman's ornamentation, and is one of the adornments that is, in some parts of the country, an auspicious symbol of marital felicity. Maang tikas are typically made of a precious metal and have a face set with gemstones, often with intricate enamelling on the reverse. They were prominently depicted in miniature paintings, and in the Mughal period, they were often made of pearls. Italian writer and traveller Niccolao Manucci, who wrote a memoir about the Indian subcontinent during the Mughal era, described them as, "Upon the middle of the head is a bunch of pearls... with a valuable ornament of costly stones formed into the shape of the sun, or moon, or some star, or at times imitating different flowers. This suits them exceedingly well." (Quoted in "Women's Jewelry in Aurangzeb's Court," Oppi Untracht, Traditional Jewelry of India, London: Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 347)

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