Peacock Collar Set with Green Drops

A necklace set in gold-tone brass, set with cubic zirconia and coloured glass stones. It follows the curve of the collarbone in one continuous band. The design is built around the peacock. Photographed in Red.

The design

The peacock is the oldest motif in Indian ornament and the most loaded: it stands for rain, for fertility and for Krishna, and its fanned tail gives a jeweller a natural way to spread small stones across a wide surface.

Shaped drops hang below the main body of the piece, lengthening the line and keeping the design from reading as a solid block.

Materials used

Cubic zirconia does the work. Known in India as American Diamond, it is a grown crystal, hard enough to hold a sharp facet edge and bright enough to carry a whole design on its own. Where there is colour it is glass, and that is the right choice — glass takes a deeper, more saturated colour than CZ ever will.

Those flat metal rims around the coloured stones are a kundan borrowing. Kundan setting beds a flat-topped stone in soft gold worked cold around its edge — no claws, no heat. The shape it leaves behind is the most recognisable thing in Indian jewellery, and it survives here in plated brass.

Colours and availability

One colourway is stocked, in Red — the shade the design was drawn for and the one in the photographs.

It is plated brass — a gold polish over a brass body. That is what makes a piece this size affordable, and the brass is also why it has some heft rather than feeling like foil.

It wants an open neckline. Against a high-necked kurta the design has nowhere to sit, so keep it for a saree blouse or a boat neck, and pin your dupatta behind the shoulder.

Costume jewellery earns its place by letting you wear a shape you would never commission in gold. Nothing here pretends to be precious; the pleasure is in the design, and the design is genuinely old.

Care and storage

Treat the plating as the wearing part. Keep it away from water, perfume and hair spray, put it on after you have finished dressing, and wipe it with a dry cotton cloth before it goes away. Stored dry in a zip pouch with the air pressed out, the finish lasts for years; left in a humid bathroom it will not last a season.

A note on what this is not: it is not hallmarked, it is not precious metal, and it carries no resale value. Keyura sells it as what it is — a well-made plated piece with good stones, priced accordingly, and described here without the word gold doing any work it has not earned.

This piece is listed for enquiry rather than instant checkout, because stock on the colour you want has to be confirmed before we take money for it. Use the enquiry button on this page and we will come back with availability, the final price and a delivery window. All Keyura orders are prepaid. We do not offer cash on delivery.