This golden pendant is set with rubies, diamonds and emeralds. The form is of the multi-headed cobra Kaliya which acts as a canopy for a small image of Krishna who plays a flute. Krishna dances on the body of the cobra and is worked in gold and studded with emeralds. Kishnas' face comprises a single emerald carved with facial features. This sort of work is reminiscent of the Mughal preference for carving emeralds. The lower edge is lined with three rows of hollow gold beads (there is some minor age-related crushing to some of the beads, similar to other illustrated examples mentioned below. The reverse is of sheel gold chased and engraved with the back of the body and head of the cobra with the lower border comprising the heads and bodies of a addorsed serpents. The pendant had a good size and weight but is likely to be filled with lac. Small loops of the cobra probably once would have allowed for the suspension of small pearls or similar. Weight: 39.4 grams The gold: tested by a jeweler: between 18 and 21 carats Ref: a very dimular example which also had a carved emerald face for Krishna, is in the Susan Benningson Collection and is illustrated in Aitken and ascribed to the 18th century. Aiken comments thad such an ornament would have belonged to a Vishnavite woman and often were worn by young women trained in dance who were married to a god. A nearly identical example is in the National Museum, Delhi. Originally, these would have served as braid ornaments to be worn on er near the forhead. But now they are more likely to be worn as pendants around the neck. The exampel here has been strung with a black plaited string so it can be worn as such. (Source: Michael Backman Limited London) Provenance Private collection UK Michael Backman Limited, London Binnen Nederland: gezien de waarde geef ik er de voorkeur aan dat het sieraad wordt opgehaald of door mij gebracht; datum in overleg te kiezen. Verzending zal aangetekend zijn.