Name/Title
Pair of Pearl and Red Stone Floral Ear StudsEntry/Object ID
171Description
Summary Description
Pair of small floral ear studs in 22 karat gold set with seed pearls surrounding a central red stone. Originally belonging to Lakshmamma and later worn daily for decades by Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna, including during her college years and adult life. The earrings were eventually superseded by a slightly larger pair but remained in occasional use before being given to the present owner during Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna’s 2012 visit shortly before her passing.
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Detailed Description
The pair of ear studs is constructed in high-karat 22 karat gold and formed as small six-petal floral clusters. Each stud is composed of five rounded seed pearls arranged around a central red stone mounted within a scalloped gold setting. The floral arrangement is symmetrical and restrained in scale, consistent with practical daily-wear South Indian jewelry of the mid-20th century.
The reverse reveals a traditional threaded tubular post with screw-back fastening system, a form commonly associated with Indian jewelry intended for secure continuous wear. One photographed example shows the stud disassembled, revealing the removable threaded back and hollow post construction. The reverse surfaces are smoothly finished and exhibit little wear relative to the age of the objects.
The earrings likely originated as part of Lakshmamma’s personal jewelry during the late colonial or early post-independence period in South India, probably between approximately 1945 and 1950. They were subsequently inherited and worn extensively by Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna throughout much of her life, including during her college years and later adulthood. Their modest scale, secure fastening system, and durable high-karat construction align with patterns of everyday jewelry use among South Indian women of the period, where fine jewelry often functioned simultaneously as adornment, savings, familial continuity, and embodied inheritance.
At some point later in life, Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna acquired a slightly larger pair of similar studs and wore this earlier inherited set less frequently. In 2012, shortly before her passing, she gave the earrings to the present owner during a family visit. The earrings therefore preserve two generations of maternal transmission within the family line: from Lakshmamma to Vijaya Kumari Ramakrishna and subsequently into The Vijaya Kumari Art Collection.
Unlike ceremonial jewelry reserved for weddings or festivals, these studs belong to the category of intimate daily domestic adornment. Their significance derives not from scale or gem value alone, but from prolonged continuous use across generations of women within the same family. Within Bangalore House, they function as compact but highly concentrated carriers of maternal continuity, memory, inheritance, and lived Indian domestic culture.Made/Created
Date made
circa 1945 - 1950
