The jigha is the front-mounted plume or aigrette of Mughal turban jewellery, designed to be inserted into the front of a courtier's turban above the brow, with a feathered or plume-like spray rising vertically from the mounted jewel. The piece occupies a specific position in the Mughal sumptuary system: it was, alongside the sarpech and the kalgi, the principal indicator of court rank and personal favour, and the largest and most extravagant pieces were the gift of the emperor to nobles on important occasions or to foreign envoys.

Form and Construction

The classical jigha is constructed of three principal sections. The lower section is a vertical mounting bar or pin that anchors the piece into the turban itself, typically two to four centimetres wide and set with a row of stones in kundan setting. The middle section is the principal jewelled body, an inverted teardrop or shield form set with the principal stone or stones in the centre, framed by smaller stones and often decorated on the reverse with meenakari enamel work. The upper section is the plume itself, either an actual feather (typically heron or peacock) mounted into a jewelled socket, or a sculpted goldwork representation of feathers in repoussé, sometimes set throughout with smaller stones to suggest the play of light through real plumage.

Stones are typically uncut or table-cut diamonds, foiled rubies, emeralds, and natural pearls. The kundan setting characteristic of the period encloses each stone in a soft 24-karat gold bezel, with foil behind the stone to enhance reflection and a polished gold rim around it. The reverse of the piece, visible only when the turban is removed, is decorated with polychrome champlevé enamel in fine floral and vegetal designs, often executed by separate enamellers in the imperial karkhana workshops.

Historical Use

The jigha as a recognisable form was established in the Mughal court by the late sixteenth century under Akbar, with surviving examples and contemporary miniatures from the seventeenth century under Jahangir and Shah Jahan documenting the form in considerable detail. The Aigrette of the Sun, a particularly elaborate Mughal jigha now in the Al Sabah collection in Kuwait, is a representative seventeenth-century example, with a central spinel or balas ruby, surrounding diamond and emerald work, and a feathered upper section in worked gold.

The piece passed from the imperial court into the regional Indian princely collections through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with major examples surviving in the treasuries of Hyderabad, Baroda, Patiala, and Jodhpur. The 1925 Cartier collaboration with the Maharaja of Patiala produced reset versions of historic stones in updated jigha and sarpech designs, marking the entry of the form into the European fine-jewellery vocabulary as part of the Art Deco revival of Mughal motifs.

Trade and Collecting Today

Authentic period jigha pieces are extremely rare on the open market and are concentrated in major museum and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Al Sabah Collection, the Metropolitan Museum, and several Indian princely collections. Modern reproductions and contemporary interpretations are produced in Jaipur, Hyderabad, and Delhi, with the Jaipur jewellers of the Gem Palace and Amrapali having been principal among contemporary makers. Auction-grade period examples appear at Christie's and Sotheby's at intervals, with prices running into seven and occasionally eight figures for documented imperial pieces.