Single Medallion Payal on Flat Curb Chain

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

Almost every anklet tries to decorate the whole ankle. This one puts everything into a single ornament and leaves the rest plain, which is a harder thing to carry off and a much more modern look.

The medallion is a lozenge — a square standing on its point — built as openwork rather than a solid plate. At its centre is a round cabochon, and around that a ring of eight smaller round stones in beaded collets, each one sitting in its own pierced arch so the skin shows through the gaps between them. The four corners finish in scrolled filigree, tight little spirals of drawn wire that are the signature of this style of Indian metalwork. The whole thing is blackened deeply enough that the stones appear to float.

How to wear it

Either side runs a flat curb chain, entirely plain, and on the opposite side of the ankle sits one small matching floral link so the design does not simply stop. The medallion is meant to be worn to the side rather than centred at the front, which is how it sits naturally and how it photographs.

Materials used

A word on the stones, because it matters when you are choosing a colour. These are glass and cubic zirconia, not gemstones, cut and polished and set by hand into closed metal bezels. That is the traditional setting for Indian costume jewellery and it does two useful things: the closed back holds the stone securely against the knocks an anklet takes, and it puts a dark oxidised rim around every stone so the colour reads clearly instead of washing out against the metal.

Colours and availability

It also means the colours are saturated rather than subtle. A sea green here is a true green-blue, a ruby is a deep pink-red, and the baby pink is pale and milky rather than bright. The photographs on each swatch are of that exact colourway, so trust them over the colour name.

Four colourways are stocked. Baby Pink is the softest and the best-stocked. Sea Green is a true green-blue that looks particularly good against the blackened openwork. Red pairs red centres with clear white surrounds for more contrast. Multi mixes the colours across the nine settings.

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.

Because the chain is flat and plain, this is one of the easier ornate anklets to wear with Western clothes — the medallion reads as a single deliberate ornament rather than as traditional jewellery, and the chain itself sits close enough to pass under a trouser hem. It is silent; there are no bells on this one at all.

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.

Care and storage

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 and it is also what loosens a bezel-set stone over time, so slip it off before bathing. A dry soft cloth is the whole cleaning routine — never a silver polish or a dip, which strip the blackening the design depends on and can fog the stones.