When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection

Through July 11, 2010 at the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory

When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection celebrates the dazzling beauty and awe-inspiring technical craftsmanship of Indian jewelry with more than 150 pieces spanning 2,000 years, primarily from South India. The title alludes to the preference for gold in South Indian jewelry—North Indian jewelry, on the other hand, is known primarily for the use of precious and semiprecious stones—as well as to the strong influence of nature on the designs, from ear studs in the form of a lotus to armbands featuring petal-and-leaf weaving.

When Gold Blossoms includes spectacular rings, anklets, earrings, hair pendants, jeweled crowns, ivory combs, and an elaborate swing and a gold throne for a deity. Some of the pieces are worn in daily life, others dedicated to deities in Hindu temples. Photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries will be displayed alongside the jewelry to provide a fuller understanding of the ways in which jewelry is worn and used.

For more info, visit the Michael C. Carlos Musueum.