Bhupinder Singh became Maharaja of Patiala in 1900 at the age of nine, inheriting a state in the Punjab that was one of the largest and wealthiest in India. He came into his full powers as a ruler in the early 1910s and reigned until his death in 1938. He was one of the most extravagant of the Indian maharajas who patronised Cartier: a man who kept a personal treasury of extraordinary size, maintained a household on a vast scale, and pursued jewellery commissions with a determination that few clients of any period have matched.
Patiala's wealth derived from the state's fertile agricultural land, its position on significant trade routes, and the accumulated reserves of previous rulers. Bhupinder Singh added to what he inherited and spent on a scale that drew attention across Europe as well as India. He attended the Delhi Durbar of 1911 at which many of the great Indian princes appeared before George V, and his presence there reinforced his standing among the most significant native rulers.
Personal Style and Jewellery
Bhupinder Singh wore jewellery in the tradition of Indian royal display: ceremonially, publicly, and in quantities that were designed to be read as statements of power. He possessed a large personal collection that included coloured stones and diamonds of considerable size and quality. He was photographed wearing multiple strands of natural pearls, enormous diamond sarpech turban ornaments, and jewelled bracelets and necklaces in combinations that reflected Indian royal convention. Many of the pieces he brought to Cartier included Mughal carved gemstones from his treasury, including carved rubies, emeralds, and spinels accumulated over generations.
His visits to Cartier Paris to commission directly were events that the firm and the press noted. He arrived with a retinue, brought stones from his treasury for assessment and remounting, and commissioned new pieces alongside the remounting work. The combination of his purchasing power and the scale of his existing stone holdings made him an exceptional client. The artefacts and visual material that surrounded the Indian commissions, and which fed Cartier's design vocabulary, are explored in Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence.
The 1928 Commission
The Patiala Diamond Necklace, commissioned in 1928, is the centrepiece of his relationship with Cartier. For the full account of the necklace, including its subsequent disappearance and partial recovery, see the dedicated entry. It is enough to note here that the commission represented a concentration of resources, including the De Beers No. 1 diamond as the centrepiece stone, that was without precedent in Cartier's experience of the Indian commissions. Pierre Cartier was the brother who managed the firm's most significant client relationships in this period, and the Patiala commission sat within his domain.
Legacy
Bhupinder Singh died in 1938, aged forty-six. His son Yadavindra Singh succeeded him as the last Maharaja of Patiala before the state's accession to India in 1947. The dispersal of the Patiala treasury that followed independence was substantial, and many pieces from the collection, including the necklace, disappeared from historical record during this period. Bhupinder Singh is remembered through his commissions more than through political or military achievement, and the Patiala Necklace remains the defining object of his relationship with Cartier.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 4 (“Jacques, 1906–1919”) and ch. 7 (“Precious London: Late 1920s”)
- Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary (Thames and Hudson, 1984; revised 2007), pp. 155, 169 et al.
- Wikipedia: Maharaja of Patiala
