| The technique of decorating blackened base metals with silver has been practiced in Bidri in central India since the 15th century.
The item is cast in an alloy containing mostly zinc. The pattern is then chiselled out and inlaid with silver. The item is then covered with mud containing chemicals, particularly ammonia, which darken the base alloy but leaves the silver shining. |
 |
| Traditionally, in India the dagger indicated the background and status of the wearer. Maharajas vied with each other, commissioning the finest craftsmen to make the most beautiful and valuable weapons, decorated with precious metals and rare jewels. At the same time, plain steel daggers were used by ordinary men in the battlefield.
There were many different types of Indian dagger. The most common were the Katar. This was a dagger designed for thrusting; the blade was almost always made of steel and was usually broad and double-edged; the tapering blade gave the dagger a triangular look. It has a unique H-shaped handle. One version has two extra blades that spring out on either side of the main blade when the handles of the hilt are squeezed. |
 |
Prior to European colonisation, India had two distinct cultures, Hindu in the south and Islamic in the north, and two distinct styles of jewellery.
Hindu men wore specific jewellery to show that they had passed through various stages of life. The Hindu woman’s jewellery was her dowry and passed down from generation to generation.
Hindu jewellery reflected the wearer’s class. The rich wore gold jewellery set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls; the less wealthy had gold set with less precious stones; the relatively poor had silver jewellery while the lowest classes wore jewellery mad of intricately worked base metals.
Goldsmiths were highly respected members of society. They used only pure, 24-carat gold which was often lavishly decorated with repousse work, where the design is beaten out from behind. Stones were placed in indentations in the metal and held by thin bands of metal. The European claw setting was not used until well into the 19th century. Stones were set as cabochons, size was regarded as more important than brilliance and flaws were not cut out.
| From the about the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD, Gandhara was a small community on the Silk Road from China to Rome. It was located near the border of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan just east of the Khyber Pass. Its capital, Taxila, was 20 miles from present day Islamabad. It was subject to frequent invasions, being ruled by the Persian, Greeks and others before being finally destroyed by the Huns. Alexander the Great conquered Gandhara in 326 BC. It was in Gandhara that Mahayana Buddhism began to emerge from the earlier Theravada Buddhism. |  |
