Oxidised Elephant Bead Payal

Payal is simply the Hindi word for an anklet, and in most of India it is still the first piece of jewellery a girl is given and the last an older woman takes off. It is worn as a pair, one on each ankle, and traditionally it was meant to be heard as much as seen — the sound announced that someone was coming, which in a joint household was a courtesy rather than a performance.

Design and detail

A row of elephants walks the length of this anklet, each one nose to tail with the next, separated by a small round bead. They are cast in profile with the trunk curled down, the ear and the back engraved with fine lines, and the legs modelled rather than left as a flat silhouette. Each is no more than a centimetre long.

A procession of elephants is one of the oldest arrangements in Indian decorative art — it runs along temple plinths, around the borders of textiles and across the lower edge of painted manuscripts, always moving in one direction. Repeating the same figure at small scale is what creates the sense of a procession rather than a row of charms, and it is why this reads as traditional rather than novelty.

Because the elephants are strung in line rather than hung from the chain, nothing dangles and nothing swings. The anklet lies close and flat, which matters at the ankle more than anywhere else on the body, and it is silent.

Metal and stones

German silver is the trade name for a bright white alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. It contains no silver at all. What it does have is a hard, cool-toned surface that takes an oxidised finish well and resists scratching better than plated brass, which is why almost every everyday Indian anklet is made to look like it.

The elephant is the safest motif in Indian ornament — welcome at a wedding, a puja, a housewarming and an ordinary Tuesday with no adjustment. At this price, this is a good anklet to buy as a gift when you do not know someone's taste, and a good one to buy two of.

How to wear it

A note on wearing a pair rather than one. Single anklets have become common and there is nothing wrong with wearing one, but a pair sits differently: the two sounds fall slightly out of step as you walk, which is what produces the soft irregular jingle people associate with payal rather than a single repeating note.

How to care for it

An anklet lives a harder life than any other piece of jewellery. It meets shoes, floors, door frames and bedsheets, and it is the piece most likely to be worn into the shower because taking it off is a nuisance. Water is what dulls an oxidised finish fastest, so slip it off before bathing where you can. A dry soft cloth is the whole cleaning routine — never a silver polish or a dip, which strip the blackening the design depends on.