Northern India. The silk necklace intricately couched in bi-color gold and silver-wrapped threads and suspending three jade pendants of lobed form, each minutely inlaid with gold and set with diamonds, pearls, tourmalines, rubies, sapphires, citrines, coral, and turquoises, decorated with symmetrical floral motifs, with a pierced suspension piece at the top. The finely polished, highly translucent, and semi-transparent stones of an even white tone. The necklace further embellished with inlaid stones on both ends.

Provenance: The Dr. Johan Carl Kempe Collection, and thence by descent in the family. Dr. Johan Carl Kempe (1884-1967) was a leading figure of the Swedish pulp and paper industry and an Olympic silver medalist. However, he is probably best known for his magnificent and legendary collection of Chinese art. The famous collection specialized in three principal areas, Chinese gold and silver from the Zhou to the Qing dynasty, Chinese white porcelains from the Song and Tang dynasties, and Chinese glass, but he also collected Chinese lacquer, snuffboxes, bronzes and other metalwork, enamels, hardstones, and Roman glassware. Kempe and his wife traveled to Mainland China for the first time in 1935, where he reportedly purchased around 250 objects. After his death, part of his collection was donated to the British Museum and the Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, some items were exhibited in 1971 by the Kempe Foundation which organized a touring exhibition to the United States showing 150 items of gold, silver and ceramics, and some objects were sold at auction houses including Sotheby’s Hong Kong, while a substantial portion has remained in the family to this day.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, minuscule nibbling, few stones with minor damage, some may have been replaced over time, few small losses to the gold inlay.

Weight: 38.3 g
Dimensions: Length of the jade plaques 4.8 cm, 2.8 cm and 2.9 cm, the wirework 19.4 cm

A haldili is a pendant amulet worn to control involuntary palpitations of the heart. Haldilis are usually decorated with a linear, conventionalized, symmetrical branching tree-of-life pattern, the gemstones being a reference to fruit or flowers on the tree of life. The reverse side of the haldili can be plain which may mean it was intended for use by a Hindu, or, if for a Muslim, it was never inscribed.

The jade for these amulets was traditionally mined in Turkistan, prepared in Jaipur, and inlaid in Delhi or Jaipur by means of the Kundan process. For a full description of Haldili ornamentation, see Traditional Jewelry of India, by Oppi Untracht, pages 116-119.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related bell-shaped jade plaque with gem inlays, dated to the 18^th to 19^th century, in The Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number 684-1874.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 24 April 2012, lot 226
Price: GBP 8,000 or approx. EUR 15,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Mughal gem-set gold mounted jade Pendant (haldili), India, late 18th/early 19th century
Expert remark: Compare the related form, gold inlay, gemstones, and color of the jade. Note the size (5.2 cm) and that this lot comprises only a single pendant.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 19 June 2019, lot 201
Price: USD 46,250 or approx. EUR 52,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Tipu Sultan’s gem set jade pendant, North India or Decan, 1720-1750, mounted as a brooch circa 1900
Expert remark: Compare the closely related gold inlay, gemstones, and color of the stone. Note the different form and motif as well as the rather small size (3.7 cm). Also note that this lot only comprises a single pendant.

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