Meenakari Teardrop Bugadi Earrings with Ruby Kundan Centre

The centre of this bugadi is the part worth paying attention to. A pear-cut stone in a deep ruby red sits in a raised gold bezel, and that bezel is itself set inside a teardrop of dark green enamel, so the red is surrounded by a band of colour before the gold frame closes around it. The enamel is laid into a recess in the metal and polished flat, which is the old meenakari principle: the colour lives below the surface rather than on top of it, so it does not scuff the way a painted finish would.

The bezel setting is the other traditional detail. Rather than holding the stone with prongs, the gold is pushed up around its whole edge, which is how kundan work has always been done and why a bezel-set stone reads as warmer and heavier than a prong-set one of the same size. It also protects the stone on all sides, which matters on a piece that sits against hair and a dupatta all evening.

Below the teardrop the piece opens into a fan filled with two rows of small magenta pink stones, and the outer rim carries a border of round white pearls with tiny gold beads set between them. Two faceted drops, one red and one green, hang from the base on short links. At about 1.1 inches overall it is one of the larger bugadi in this range — enough to be clearly a design rather than only a sparkle.

What the dark enamel does for the piece is give the eye somewhere to rest. Most stone-set bugadi are bright all over, and after a certain density the detail stops registering. A band of deep green between the red stone and the pink fan separates those two warm colours and lets each of them read on its own. It is the same trick a jeweller uses when setting a large stone in blackened silver, and it is why meenakari and kundan have been used together for so long.

Wear it as a pair, high on the ear, with the hair pulled back or pinned to one side. The green and red make it a natural partner for a green, maroon or deep red outfit, and it is a strong choice for a wedding function where you want one piece that carries colour on its own. With a plain gold chain and simple studs in the lobes it carries a whole look by itself.

One practical note on the colour. Enamel of this depth photographs darker than it looks in the hand — in daylight the green is clearly green, while under indoor light and in most photographs it reads closer to black. Both are the same piece; it is the lighting, not a difference between batches.

Base metal is brass with a gold-tone plating. The centre and accent stones are cubic zirconia, the dark green is enamel, and the pearls are shell-style faux pearls.

About the Gold-Tone Finish

This is brass with a gold-tone plating rather than solid gold, which keeps the price where it is and the weight low enough to wear comfortably. Plating is a surface rather than a bulk property, so how long it lasts depends almost entirely on what it meets — perfume, hairspray and sweat all shorten it, while a dry cloth after wearing and a closed pouch between wearings extend it considerably.

Care

Put this on after perfume, hairspray and hand cream, and take it off before washing, swimming or sleeping. Wipe with a dry soft cloth and use a dry soft brush around the stone settings and between any pearls, where a cloth cannot reach. Store it in a zip-lock pouch — which is what the supplier themselves advise, and the single most effective thing for a plated piece, because it keeps humid air off the metal. Never use silver polish, dip cleaners or an ultrasonic cleaner.