Gems
Dreaming of India (III) : Mughal Influences and engraved gemstones in contemporary jewellery
Following the previous chapters of Dreaming of India, which explored Mughal legacies in jewellery and their European echoes during the 1920s and 1930s, this third instalment extends the reflection into contemporary design practices. It also builds upon an earlier article (2016) devoted to the mutual fascination between Europe and India, with the aim of exploring the unique role Indian imagination continues to play in the world of jewellery today.
I. Belperron and Boivin: lapidary abstraction in a feminine key (1940–1970)
Among the many European reinterpretations of Indian jewellery, the creations of Suzanne Belperron and Juliette Moutard for the maison of Boivin stand out for their distinctive approach - both respectful of antique models and boldly inventive.
One of Belperron’s most emblematic pieces, the so-called “Hindou” brooch (circa 1944), offers a compelling illustration. An example, sold at Phillips Geneva on 12 May 2025 (lot 231), combines engraved emeralds and old-cut diamonds in a stylised palmette design. According to Olivier Baroin, it is a recomposed piece, incorporating antique settings adapted to the emeralds, with engraved motifs alternating between sunbursts and foliage.
A master colourist, Suzanne Belperron collected engraved gems in many forms, with a marked preference for agates and rock crystal. Here, she fully explores the chromatic intensity of emeralds - not as static relics, but as vibrant materials, harmoniously embedded within the mount.
Juliette Moutard transposes this aesthetic into a more articulated and graphic idiom. On 19 June 2025, Christie’s Paris offered a René Boivin bracelet composed of cabochon sapphires and blue-and-white enamel (lot 28), crafted by the jeweller Charles Profillet. The piece balances the suppleness of a complex structure with a lozenge grid animated by enamel and gems; each link is removable for adjustability. The trellis motif, use of cabochons, and bicolour enamel all evoke a sense of contemporary elegance in which Eastern inspiration remains legible without slipping into pastiche.
Another example, presented by Giuseppe Torroni at GemGenève, reprises the same design but features diamond pavé and lacks enamel on the reverse (though the piece is still cloisonné and could conceivably have been enamelled). According to Olivier Baroin, this model enjoyed lasting success: “It was later adapted into earrings and rings, and even reinterpreted by Verdura in a version set with peridots.”
These bracelets establish a direct dialogue with princely Indian prototypes, such as the diamond and ruby-set bazuband sold at Christie’s New York on 19 June 2019 (lot 141). Featuring a dense lattice of rose-cut diamonds and rubies set in gold, it exemplifies the mastery of kundan setting and the Mughal court style, designed as emblems of splendour and sovereign prestige. Christie’s notes that this bazuband bears an inscription in both Hindi and Roman numerals on the reverse, suggesting a collaboration between an Indian and a European jeweller.
This stylistic dialogue with historical Indian bracelets is unmistakable: the Boivin design preserves the suppleness and rhythmic gem repetition typical of Indo-Mughal models, while reimagining them in the restrained and refined abstraction that defined Parisian taste in the 1950s.
II. Between abstraction and sacred geometry: Boucheron, Bhagat and the Mughal legacy (2000–2022)
Since the 1990s, a new generation of designers - both in India and Europe - has revisited the codes inherited from Indo-Mughal jewellery. This movement unfolds in a dual context: on one hand, the Western reinterpretation of traditional Indian craftsmanship, championed by maisons such as Cartier, JAR, Bulgari and Boucheron; on the other, the artisanal continuity maintained by Indian ateliers such as Bhagat, Santi Jewels and the Gem Palace of Jaipur.
Within the contemporary landscape of high jewellery, two approaches reveal both the persistence and transformation of Mughal heritage.
In 2022, under the direction of Claire Choisne, Boucheron unveiled its Histoire de Style: New Maharajahs collection - a contemporary homage to the legendary 1928 commission by the Maharaja of Patiala. Rather than a mere reproduction, this project is a radical reinterpretation that distills the original commission into a language of pure abstraction. The resulting pieces are defined by a monochromatic palette, rock crystal, white gold, diamonds and by their structural lightness. Transparency, soft brilliance and subtle volumetric modulation define the collection. Glyptic art, central to the project, appears through relief engravings and frosted effects, evoking traditional motifs such as the lotus, ritual breastplates, and sarpech (turban ornaments). Each jewel is conceived with modularity in mind, allowing for multiple ways of wearing, an approach aligned with contemporary notions of versatile adornment.
In Mumbai, Viren Bhagat has pursued a solitary, exacting path where the gem precedes the gesture. Since the 1990s, his one-of-a-kind creations have challenged convention through silent formality and immaculate precision. Each stone, engraved, flat or cabochon, dictates the architecture of the jewel. Metal recedes, settings vanish. Mughal heritage here is not decoration, but structure.
Colombian emeralds, Basra pearls, Burmese sapphires and rubies, flat type IIa diamonds: these are chosen not only for prestige, but for their inner resonance. Geometry guides the design, symmetry anchors it, drawing on the layout of Islamic gardens and the rhythm of Persian miniatures. Stone becomes sign, almost icon.
I once wrote about the silent kinship between Bhagat and JAR (2016), two masters of rare gems and reimagined traditions. Their aesthetics diverge, yet both reject the superfluous. In Bhagat’s work, the jewel is pared down to its essence: matter, light, and duration.
These two approaches - one pared-down and contemporary, the other anchored in the permanence of historic forms - both bear witness to the richness of contemporary reinvention. Each, in its own way, illustrates how carved gems continue to spark unprecedented dialogues between past and present.
III. New jewellery narratives: Marie-Hélène de Taillac, Golay Fils & Stahl, and the international scene (1990–2025)
Since the 1990s, a freer, more personal and experimental current has emerged within contemporary jewellery. It is led by designers who revisit Indo-Mughal codes without confining them to fixed historical frameworks.
Marie-Hélène de Taillac stands as one of the pioneers of this approach. Based in Paris and represented by Jill Wolf Jewels in Geneva, she has been collaborating for over two decades with lapidaries in Jaipur, at the heart of Rajasthan, reviving the region’s centuries-old tradition of coloured gemstone cutting. Her creations, crafted in 22-karat gold, are characterised by their lightness, an effortless elegance, and a vibrant chromatic palette.
Amethysts, tourmalines, rubellites, garnets or citrines, all cabochon-cut, are arranged in simple yet elegantly balanced compositions, where colour takes precedence over ostentation. She embraces an intuitive method, grounded in the dialogue between stone and mount: “Colour has always been essential to me… Choosing stones is like painting : once assembled, their colours come alive.” (Financial Times, How To Spend It, 2018). This accessible and poetic stance has contributed to the renewed appreciation of boldly coloured gems in Western jewellery.
Melissa Wolfgang Amenc, at the helm of Golay Fils & Stahl, embraces a narrative-driven approach, blending humour, family memory, and playful allusions to the Mughal spirit. Her reinterpretation of the Tutti Frutti idiom unfolds in a personal register, where each engraved stone becomes the starting point for a story. Recounting a moment of inspiration at the Tucson show, she recalls: "At the Tucson show, I spotted a trio of carved rubies - two petite ones and a larger third. Instantly, I thought of my daughter. She’d love these little gems that looked like candy. I knew I had to get them for her. But then came the question: what do I do with the third stone? It took me about 30 seconds to dream up a new take on the Tutti Frutti ear climber. Before long, there were carved candy gemstones scattered across the table and I put together my perfect set. I kept the small pair for my daughter - one day, we’ll have a Mughal-inspired mommy-and-me moment."
This joyful anecdote perfectly encapsulates her approach, where carved gems are never merely ornamental: they act as intimate tokens of memory, affection and imagination. In her hands, the Mughal heritage is not historicised, it is re-enchanted.
Within this creative ecosystem, other figures contribute to the ongoing dialogue between Indian craftsmanship and Western aesthetics.
In London, Krishna Choudhary has established himself as a leading figure in the revival of Mughal-inspired high jewellery with Santi Jewels.
Operating in a different sphere, Alice Cicolini and Pippa Small represent two complementary voices within the world of contemporary designer jewellery. Both are anchored in enduring collaborations with Indian artisans, though their approaches diverge markedly. For over two decades, Pippa Small has developed an organic and ethical practice, working closely with craftspeople in Jaipur and drawing inspiration from natural gemstones and vernacular traditions. Alice Cicolini, by contrast, favours a more graphic and scholarly language: her pieces - crafted in collaboration with master enamellers in Rajasthan - reinterpret meenakari on 22- to 24-karat gold, with visual references ranging from Persian miniatures to Mughal domes and antique textiles. While operating outside the institutional sphere of high jewellery, their creations testify to the enduring relevance of India as a source of formal, artisanal and symbolic inspiration in the British jewellery landscape today.
In Rome, Bulgari continues this lineage with brilliance. The house draws upon India’s ornamental language as a springboard for contemporary invention. The Serpenti Forces of Beauty necklace provides a striking example: its pendant, composed of beaded rubies suspended as tassels, masterfully translates a traditional Indian motif—mobile fringe elements found in turbans, princely necklaces, or temple ornaments - into the jeweller’s lexicon. Beyond the play of contrast between diamonds and rubies, a deeper tension emerges between geometric control and the serpentine movement of the tassels that extend the body of the serpent. This visual idiom bears the signature of Lucia Silvestri, creative director of Bulgari’s high jewellery. Her chromatic sensibility, passion for exceptional stones, and bold combinations of colour and form lie at the heart of the house’s contemporary style. The transformative symbolism attached to the serpent motif thus converges with Oriental lapidary codes, giving rise to a hybrid and sophisticated jewellery language - where India remains a living source of inspiration.
At the heart of these ongoing exchanges, Royal Gems & Arts directed by Santi Choudhary, and The Gem Palace in Jaipur play a pivotal role. As heirs to a centuries-old jewellery tradition, these iconic Indian institutions continue to produce unique pieces while collaborating with maisons and collectors around the world. Their presence at major international fairs confirms Jaipur’s centrality on the contemporary map of high jewellery excellence.
Cartier, finally, remains a key player in this dynamic. The maison regularly reissues pieces inspired by the Tutti Frutti aesthetic, while also highlighting its Mughal heritage through landmark exhibitions such as Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity at the MAD, Paris (2021–2022), and Cartier, Islamic Art and Modernity at the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2023). This dual commitment to heritage and creativity anchors Cartier in an ongoing dialogue between past and present.
Engraved gemstones, once emblems of power or opulence, have become vessels of transmission, memory, and creative freedom. Whether set in sculptural masterpieces, minimalist compositions, or everyday jewels, these ancient stones continue to trace their singular trajectory - bridging the gestures of the past with with the creative visions of today.
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GemGenève
May, 7-10, 2026
Golay fils & Stahl
1 Place des Bergues
1201 Geneva
Tel. +41 22 731 5400
Email: info@golayfils.ch
Jill Wolf Jewels
Grand-Rue 39,
1204 Geneva
Tel. : +41 22 312 00 84
jillwolfjewels.com
Olivier Baroin
La Golconde
9, place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
Tel : 01 40 07 15 69
Warski
« From Function to Fantasy »
October, 1st-12th, 2025
60 St. James’s Street, Londres SW1A 1LE
Beyond Extravagance: A Royal Collection of Gems and Jewels
Edited by Amin Jaffer Assouline, 2013, 2019 (2e édition)
Boucheron, joaillier libre
Anita Coppet
Editions la Martinière, 2018
Bulgari Publications
Cartier Publications
Dreaming of India (II): engraved gemstones and Mughal influence in Art Deco jewellery
By the 1910s, leading European jewellers were rediscovering the aesthetics of Mughal India through carved gems - emeralds, rubies, and spinels - brought back from India by maharajas, merchants, collectors, and British residents of the Raj (1858–1947). These dazzling stones, vibrant with the colours of India and bearing witness to a refined Indo-Islamic lapidary tradition, were removed from their original mounts, reworked, and sometimes recut to suit modern tastes.
Cartier, Chaumet, Janesich, Mauboussin, and Dusausoy all found in India a fertile source of ornamental renewal. The Western imagination embraced the exuberant colours of carved gems. What would later be known as the “Tutti Frutti” style - perfected by Cartier in the 1920s - became one of its most iconic expressions: asymmetrical clusters, material contrasts, and stylised floral bursts.
Many of these gems resurfaced on the market through discreet sales by Indian princely families, often via bazaars in Delhi, Jaipur, or Calcutta. They then passed through the hands of specialised dealers, like Jacques Cartier or Georges Chaumet during their travels, or the Rubel brothers in Paris, before being set in European workshops in line with the emerging aesthetics of Art Deco.
GemGenève 2025: A Crossroads of Influence, from Paris to an Imagined India
Held during the ninth edition of the fair, the exhibition Art Deco: A Legacy of Timeless Elegance, curated by Mathieu Dekeukelaire (Director, GemGenève), traced the creative richness of the 1910–1939 period through an exceptional corpus of jewels, objets d'art, and archival documents. Far from any rigid academicism, Art Deco was presented as a crucible of global influence: from Egypt to East Asia, and notably India, whose contribution, too often sidelined, proved essential in the ornamental renewal of interwar jewellery.
Mathieu Dekeukelaire emphasised the era’s thirst for elsewhere, a yearning that infused all the decorative arts. In the field of jewellery, the Indo-Mughal aesthetics of carved stones, floral arabesques, and chromatic contrasts became one of the period's most fertile visual idioms. Cartier, Marcus & Co., Chaumet, as well as now lesser-known maisons like Janesich or Marchak, drew on this heritage and transposed it into the geometric and rational language of Art Deco.
The exhibition revealed the full formal density and symbolic resonance of these dialogues.
Chaumet: Reinventing a lapidary Orient
In 1910–1911, Georges Chaumet travelled to India, where he discovered the traditions of Mughal gem carving. Upon his return to Paris, the maison began incorporating rubies and emeralds carved with stylised vegetal motifs into its creations, in a vocabulary inspired by Indo-Islamic art.
A refined interpretation of this influence appears in a jabot pin (c. 1920) in platinum and gold: each end capped with a ruby carved in leaf form, framed by rose-cut diamonds - a jewel of Oriental inspiration adapted to European fashion. Jabot pins, worn on jackets, jabots, or hats, were then highly fashionable.
In 1927, the house designed a spectacular "cravat" brooch in gold and platinum, combining calibrated rubies, onyx plaques, and carved emeralds. Its articulated central motif evokes the skyscrapers of Manhattan, while the vivid palette of green, red, black, and white translates an imagined India into the urban abstraction of Art Deco.
Marcus & Co.: New York sophistication and engraved emerald cabochons
Asked about her selection criteria for the Faerber Collection loan, exhibition partner Ida Faerber explains: “Art Deco was a rich and multifaceted period, marked by a plurality of influences. I chose a brooch by Marcus & Co. set with two carved emeralds, which illustrates the assimilation of Indian craftsmanship."
This jabot brooch (c.1920) exemplifies the technical refinement and ornamental audacity of the New York maison: two carved emerald cabochons cap a platinum openwork structure set with circular, baguette, and marquise-cut diamonds, accented by onyx and triangular-cut emeralds. Transformable into a pair of clips, the piece combines architectural modernity with lapidary memory in a formal language born of transcultural dialogue.
Diversity of workshops
Other jewellers and anonymous ateliers also produced remarkable Art Deco pieces. One such example is a flexible bracelet presented by Paul Fisher Inc. (c. 1930), in platinum, designed with a continuous floral motif set with carved rubies and old-cut diamonds. The treatment of the stones - likely carved in India - bears witness to lapidary mastery rooted in Mughal workshop traditions. This bracelet elegantly embodies the synthesis of Art Deco formalism and Oriental sensuality.
These carved gems, often shaped long before their Art Deco settings, originate from specialised centres such as Jaipur, Cambay, Delhi, or Hyderabad, where Mughal gem-cutting and engraving techniques were transmitted in anonymous workshops. These artisans, cutters, polishers, enamelers, remain absent from Western archives, yet their craftsmanship endures.
Leading Dealers at GemGenève: Fragments of a reimagined Orient
Several dealers at GemGenève 2025 highlighted the enduring presence of Mughal and Indian aesthetics in Art Deco jewellery, with carved emeralds occupying centre stage.
Ernst Färber displayed a spectacular rectangular emerald engraved with a lush poppy blossom, mounted in yellow gold and paired with multiple strands of fine ruby beads. The Munich-based house also presented a necklace of Colombian emerald beads carved in melon slices, typical of late Mughal art, interspersed with fine pearls and rock crystal capsules engraved and set with calibrated rubies.
Giuseppe Torroni featured an Indian-inspired emerald brooch signed Raymond Yard, one of New York high society's favourite jewellers. Paul Fisher Inc. showed a "Tutti Frutti" demi-parure (necklace and earrings), unsigned, in yellow gold and diamonds, set with cabochon sapphires and rubies, carved emerald leaves, and paisley motifs topped with round diamonds.
Zebrak presented a Janesich bracelet adorned with melon-carved emeralds, accentuated with fine pearls and tubular diamond-and-platinum motifs. The interplay between rounded and taut lines offered a poetic interpretation of Indian vocabulary reformulated through the Art Deco grid. A Tutti Frutti necklace signed Mauboussin also exemplified this encounter between French taste and Indian imagination: adorned with carved coloured stones, it featured a flower vase pendant - a central motif in Mughal iconography - subtly reinterpreted. A highlight: a long platinum sautoir whose chain, set with diamonds and calibrated emeralds, culminated in a pendant composed of oblong emerald beads, a large polished hexagonal emerald, and a cabochon carved with a floral motif. A clear homage to a necklace created by Cartier London in 1927, the piece is built around a historical pendant - a quintessential example of the "Indian style" developed by the maison during the interwar years. It also recalls a brooch worn by Marjorie Merriweather Post in a 1929 portrait by Giulio de Blaas alongside her daughter Nedenia (Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, acc. no. 51.146).
Horovitz & Totah also contributed to this reimagining with a 1935 Cartier vanity case in "Hindu" style, finely decorated with partially enamelled birds and wild animals, topped with an agate plaque set with a sculpted sapphire.
Between Authenticity and Reinterpretation: The Ambiguities of Carved Gems
The current enthusiasm for carved gems and historic forms raises a fundamental question: how can one distinguish an authentically old Indian gem from a contemporary creation inspired by Mughal styles?
In an era of historically inspired recreations, in which natural gems are recut to emulate seventeenth - or eighteenth - century styles, the boundary between the genuine and the pastiche is increasingly blurred. An old gem may be mounted in a 1920s jewel; a recent gem may be engraved in a style that imitates Mughal art.
Canadian master lapidary Patrick Dubuc reflects on this challenge with both humility and insight: "I engraved the Shahs using a digital graver, an oil-lubricated steel tip set with a small diamond. After numerous passes, the result was astonishing. What always intrigued me was how Mughal artisans managed to engrave diamonds with such precision, without our modern tools. A rotary tool? A vibrating tip? Or were some of the pieces reworked later?"
For Patrick Dubuc, the difference lies in subtle details, perceptible only to a trained eye. Today’s digital tools can achieve a level of finesse often greater than that of historical engravings. Yet modern polishing is too perfect. "On older pieces, you can detect micro-irregularities, wear, and abrasive marks that betray the human hand. Even the symmetry can reveal modernity: too crisp, too precise."
Indeed, ancient gems often display a soft patina, irregular facets, or traces of primitive tools. Conversely, recent stones, even when cut in a historical spirit, frequently exhibit flawless polish, perfect geometry, and no time-induced marks.
Dubuc reminds us that without documented provenance, even the most sophisticated expertise cannot guarantee certainty. As early as the 1910s, Chaumet’s workshops were hand-carving stones in a style inspired by Mughal motifs. At the same time, Jacques Cartier was acquiring authentic carved gems in India and remounting them in modernist compositions. In the 1940s, Suzanne Belperron re-used ancient carved emeralds in radically modern jewels. These practices further obscure chronological certainties.
Fima Diamonds adds that material analysis also plays a role. An old gem, rose or flat-cut, carved or not, often shows gentle asymmetry, irregular proportions, and diffuse brilliance. Cut for candlelight, these stones bear the marks of handcraft: non-standard shapes, open culets, broad and off-centre facets. Some even show remnants of previous mounts: softened edges, minor abrasions, faint scratches.
True connoisseurship, as Dubuc emphasises, demands humility. Much depends on intuition and empirical observation. Fima Diamonds notes that no single criterion suffices. In the absence of provenance, only a cross-reading between lapidary, dealer, gemmologist, and historian allows for a cautious appreciation of a gem’s true antiquity.
The Indo-Deco Opulence of Mauboussin
Among the few surviving pieces from the ensemble presented by Mauboussin at the 1939 New York World's Fair, one transformable necklace—sold at Sotheby’s Geneva on 13 May 2025—marks a milestone in the history of haute joaillerie. Dated circa 1935, it illustrates how the maison, at the peak of its creative powers, fused Indian ornamental heritage with the chromatic and geometric codes of Art Deco.
Designed as a cascading garland of engraved gemstones, enhanced with a twisted strand of faceted sapphire beads, the necklace blends motifs from Mughal ornamentation (volumes, colour contrasts) with a daring construction based on volumetric tension and flowing lines.
The gem engraving itself continues the lapidary traditions of imperial India, where emeralds were carved by hand with foliate motifs. The detachable clasp transforms into a brooch: a central cabochon sapphire framed by a rosette of carved emeralds and rubies, set with baguette diamonds—a reinterpretation of Mughal floral rosettes in the idiom of Art Deco.
The piece could be worn as a long necklace, a choker, or as two bracelets, reflecting the vogue for modular jewellery on the eve of the Second World War. Presented in the French pavilion of the 1939–1940 Fair, the piece was admired by millions of visitors. Reproduced in Marguerite de Cerval’s monograph (Mauboussin, 1992, p. 118), it features in the official iconography of the event. The pavilion, a showcase of national savoir-faire, embodied a form of French elegance open to extra-European decorative traditions, a diplomatic art of taste blending modernity and appropriation.
By the mid-1920s, Mauboussin’s coloured stone creations had gained international recognition. The maison’s collaboration with American jewellers Trabert & Hoeffer ensured visibility in Hollywood: its parures appeared in films worn by Marlene Dietrich, Claudette Colbert, and Madeleine Carroll, symbolising a cosmopolitan luxury linking Paris, New York, and the California studios.
Highlighted again through its auction, the necklace stands as one of the last great witnesses to the dialogue between French jewellery and Mughal aesthetics at the close of the Art Deco era.
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GemGenève: GemGenève is an international high jewellery fair founded in 2018 by Thomas Faerber and Ronny Totah, two leading figures in the trade of precious stones and historic jewels. A descendant of a Swiss family of dealers, Thomas Faerber made his mark as early as 1973 by introducing antique jewellery to the International Basel Fair, and later contributed to enriching the collections of the Louvre, an achievement for which he was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. Ronny Totah, a passionate Geneva-based jeweller, is renowned for his expertise in Kashmir sapphires, natural pearls, and coloured diamonds. Together, they envisioned GemGenève as an independent and welcoming platform dedicated to exceptional gemstones, intergenerational dialogue, and the transmission of craftsmanship.
Patrick Dubuc : Dubuc créations gemmes
1e place GRAND MASTER USFG 2015
1e place MASTER USFG 2014
2e place PRE-MASTER USFG 2013
Info@dubuccreationsgemmes.com
FIMA
Natural Diamond manufacturer&wholesaler.
Providing Jewelers and Designers with Unique Diamonds 2ct+ One of a kind.
diamondsfima@fimadiamonds.com
Coming next: Dreaming of India (III): Mughal influences and engraved gemstones in contemporary jewellery
