Indian Partabargh Gold Theva-Work Bracelet

The fine bracelet comprises five gold panels joined by three rows of faceted gold beads. Each panel holds a thin glass sheet over scenes executed in gold foil against a green foil background – a type of work known as theva (or thewa) work. The panels are decorated with hunting scenes – a hunter with a musket aiming at a lion attacking a deer, along with other deers.

The central panel is the largest; the remaining four are the same size as each other. Each panel is backed with thin gold sheet.

The bracelet closes securely with a sliding box clasp.

Theva work (‘theva’ means ‘setting’) was a specialty of Raj Soni goldsmiths from Partabargh in Rajasthan. They were men, all from one large, extended family. The technique involved incising and then cutting out small scenes and images from thin 24 carat gold. This was then fused onto glass behind which green and sometimes red foil was attached. The whole is then held in place by silver or in the case here, gold, mounts. Typically, theva work shows village scenes, hunting scenes, or Hindu deities.

Such a bracelet initially would have been for a European client but then wealthier and courtly Indians also would wear Indian-made jewellery that originally was intended for the local expatriate and European market.

A related theva and gold bracelet now in the National Museum, Delhi, is illustrated in Sharma & Varadarajan (2004, p. 100). Two more examples are illustrated in Untracht (1997, p. 301). See a related example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The bracelet here is in a fine and wearable condition. The theva work is unusually fine. Overall, this is a particularly good example of mid-19th century colonial Indian gold jewellery work.