“It is important that the history and culture of a country is displayed, for all to see and enjoy,” says Bernadette van Gelder, founder of Dutch jewellery house, Van Gelder Indian Jewellery. This sentiment — which also had art historian Dr Usha Balakrishnan rallying Weekend readers early last month, to the cause of getting our jewellery out of government storage and into museums — was the driving force behind van Gelder’s decision to distil her 35-year fascination into two books. Traditional Indian Jewellery: The Golden Smile of India and Beautiful People were released at the Gyan Museum in Jaipur a few weeks ago.
The detailed publications talk about the rich history behind traditional jewellery and its enduring significance in society. And she feels they stand apart from books of a similar genre as “they tell my personal story with India, its people, and its history and culture.” Her tryst with India began when her brother Clemens van der Ven, an antiquarian in Oriental art and one of the founders of the antique fair TEFAF, gifted her a suite of jewellery. She recalls being fascinated — “I loved the designs, the use of precious and semi-precious stones, the different techniques of stone-setting and enamel work, which are unknown in the western world” — and realising that to truly appreciate the pieces she would have to study their history.
- Established in December 2015, the museum houses antiques and artefacts from Gyan Chand Dhaddha’s private collection. “Today, the collection includes textiles, paintings, antique jewellery, vintage spectacles, rare inscriptions, and objet d’art from around the world, dating back to over 3,000 years,” says Suresh Dhaddha, who founded the museum with his brother Arun, in memory of their father. It also has the country’s largest collection of ancient hookah mouthpieces. Other interesting exhibits include accessories like tinted glasses with their original boxes, watches, and clocks by renowned watchmakers like Patek Philippe and Tiffany & Co. The museum has an extensive collection of jewellery, too, with the pieces narrating a fascinating story of royal India and the evolution of Indian jewellery.
In search of sparkle
A visit to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London three decades ago inspired her first visit to India. Since then, she’s been a regular. In an interview to nrc.nl, a Dutch media outlet, she recalls the early days, when she was called the “funny Dutch lady who bought jewellery”, because she would ask taxi drivers and chambermaids to look for antique pieces. However, she soon built a vast network of experts and acquaintances, chief among them the late gemologist, Gyan Chaddha Dhaddha. “While building the collection (she procured jewels from noble families for Van Gelder Indian Jewellery), I’d always kept detailed notes, speaking to people in the field and consulting my network. So when I began writing, I elaborated on that,” says the septuagenarian, who also dipped into her extensive library in Holland, with its books on jewellery, architecture and Indian temples, for research.
Global reach
The books have been written with an international audience in mind, to inform the world about Indian aesthetics and iconography. The first, The Golden Smile of India, details the use of gold and precious stones, while the second, Beautiful People, delves into the traditions behind wearing jewellery and its role in everyday life, festivals and religion. But Van Gelder insists a western gaze has not made a difference, stating, “Indian jewellery is not about fashion, as it is in Europe. It is about culture and tradition.” Much of her information was gathered from people she met on her travels in the country — from royals to craftsmen, and even women sweeping up gold dust from a goldsmith’s floor. “I was lucky to visit renowned artist Jagdish Lal Raj-Soni in Pratapghar (Rajasthan), and see him do beautiful thewa work,” she says, adding, “All the pieces depicted in the two books have, at one point, been in our collection.”