Usha Balakrishnan
Dr Usha R Balakrishnan is a cultural capital consultant based in Mumbai. She is a highly regarded independent scholar of Indian art and culture and the pre-eminent historian
of Indian jewellery. Her mission is to collaborate and work with museums, individuals, and organizations to curate exhibitions,
plan programmes, form collections, manage cultural spaces, and deliver India to the world. In Jewels, India is the Treasury of the World
Sir Thomas Roe, English ambassador to the Mughal court, stunned by the vision of the emperor Jahangir laden with jewels, pronounced, “In jewells hee is the treasury of the world.” What Roe saw was just a minuscule fraction of the immense wealth that reposed in India. This talk will present the art of Indian jewelry. It will decode the deep symbolism of forms, discuss the connections between jewelry as personal and societal statements that are manifest in material and motifs, and tell the captivating stories of love and passion, and trade and war that are enshrined in Indian jewels.