Rare Indian Engraved Silver Comb with Rock Crystal Mounts

This is the only Indian comb we are aware of, published or otherwise, that is mounted with a flat sheet of rock crustal in the manner that this example is.

The comb has a silver frame and is decorated on both sides, and over the bridge, with floral engraving work.

The teeth are of silver and have been cut from the same piece of silver that comprises the upper frame.

The top is surmounted by a tube which in turn is surmounted by a bud-like finial. The tube allows the comb to be worn as a pendant. Indeed, it seems that the comb might have been worn in this way rather than as a hair decoration, and so perhaps was intended for a man (or a priest?) to wear it as a beard or moustache comb.

But it is the rock crystal grip that is the most remarkable element. On one side it is carved with a curled motif, perhaps based on an ammonite fossil. These were seen as a ritual, aniconic form of Vishnu, and were known as shaligram stones.

Fossilised ammonites come from Nepal, Mustang and elsewhere in the Himalayas. In Nepal, the most important source is the riverbed of the Kaligandaki River, which is one of the oldest, largest and most sacred rivers of Hinduism which flows down through Nepal, and is one of the biggest tributaries of Ganges River in India.

The rock crystal in the comb has no cracks but several natural inclusions.

The comb is in excellent condition, and completely rare.