Maharajas' Jewels by John Adamson Katherine Prior - 2004

E-96: Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd.. Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 2004. Hardcover. Hardcover. 4to. Mapin Publishing/Editions Assouline, Ahmedabad, India. 2004. 208 pgs. Profusely illustrated in color and in black & white. Later printing. DJ has light shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities. No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks, binding tight and solid, boards lightly rubbed and worn. The jewels of the maharajas of India. Sumptuous illustrations, including archival photos. Written in 6 main chapters: Divine Power and Splendor; The Medieval Heritage; The Princes and the British Empire; The Seduction of Europe; A Brilliant Interlude: The Indian Princes in Europe; The Jewelry of a Nation. The fascinating stories of Indian princes and their jewelry and precious stones are brought together in this sumptuously illustrated narrative tracing the rise and fall of India's leading royal houses through the dramatic fortunes of their crown jewels. Famed since antiquity as a supreme source of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires, the Indian subcontinent afforded untold symbols of power and prestige to its many kings. From the sixteenth century forward, these stone were sought with unscrupulous avidity by the crowned heads of Europe, but even the rapacity of the British Empire failed to devour all of India's treasures. In the twentieth century, in a final flowering of regal splendor, many maharajas traveled to the West to have their jewels reset by the most prestigious jewelers of Paris, London, and Rome. It is this encounter between Indian princely magnificence and the best of European jewelry design that forms the book's centerpiece. E-96; 4to 11" - 13" tall; 208 pages .