A sarpech is a traditional Indian ornament used mainly by noblemen on the front of their turbans. Larger ornaments were composed of several interlocking parts; in northern India these tend to be in enameled gold set with gems. However, there also survive a number of fragile turban ornaments, like the one seen here, made of jade set with gems.

The jade base of this sarpech has been elegantly carved with open foliate forms. On the back of the central element a hollow calyx has been carved to hold the shaft of a feather, which would have conferred greater panache to the wearer. The ornament is set with twelve different gems, nine of which form the standard combination of the talismanic navaratna. The large gem in the center is an beryl; the orange-yellow gem directly under it is probably a garnet. Clockwise from the tip are diamonds, ruby, yellow sapphire, turquoise, moonstone, coral, ruby, pearl, moonstone, and sapphire.¹ Seven small rubies decorate the bases of the leaves.

The Gardners paid $450 for the sarpech. A. N. Jacob wrote that “All the stones are real but not 1st quality had they been 1st quality the center Emerald alone would [be] worth 2000 rupees.”²

¹ Identified by gemologist Daniel R. Spirer using refractive indices and microscopic analysis.

² Jacob to Jack Gardner, n. d. [February 1884].

Source: Pedro Moura Carvalho, “Jewelry and Objects from India,” in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 459.