Enquiry about object: 5878
Indian Gold Pendant with Folk Hero Ramdevji
Rajasthan, India 19th or early 20th century
height: 2.7cm, width: 1.2cm, weight: 2.48g
Provenance
private collection, England. Acquired in the 1970s.
This small, solid-gold pendant would have been worn as a protective pendant in Rajasthan.
Of gable-pentagon shape, it has a gold loop at the top to allow suspension.
It is chased on the front with the 14th-15th century Rajasthani folk hero Ramdevji (also known as Baba Ramdev, Ramdeo Pir and Ramsha Pir), astride a horse.
Ramdevji was a fourteenth-century ruler, said to have miraculous powers, who devoted his life to the improving the lot of society’s poor and downtrodden. He was subsequently deified.
The pendant is stable and very wearable.
References
Barnard, N., Indian Jewellery, V&A Publishing, 2008.
Untracht, O., Traditional Jewelry of India, Thames & Hudson, 1997.
