Wings of colours

The best-dressed woman in the world, on the occasion of the grandest spectacle in history, bedazzled kings and princes alike in a fabulous gown of gold that in peacock patterning, each feather illuminated with an iridescent emerald-green jewel-beetle wing casing.

The occasion — the Delhi Durbar held to commemorate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as Emperor and Empress of India; the invitees — rajas and maharajas; the event — the coronation ball; the host — Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India; the hostess — Baroness Curzon, Vicereine, who glittered in what came to be known as the Peacock Gown; and the date — a little more than a century ago. The legend of the extravagant Peacock Gown spread far, the blue-green jewel-beetle wing casings reflecting light like faceted gems having been mistaken for emeralds.

Of high value
Justly renowned as an opulent accoutrement used to embellish luxury textiles, the elytra (the hard casing of the wings and not the wings themselves) of the jewel beetles or buprestidae were valued as one of the important commercial and economic products of India. Lightweight, surprisingly tough and hard-wearing, they retained their luminous colour for over a century. This is apparent from museum pieces in India and the famed Peacock Gown now on permanent display at the National Trust in the UK — they were the ultimate in luxury embroidery.

An 1888 publication called Art-Manufactures of India, written by T N Mukarji, gives us information on this costly style and expensive article, also stating that this embroidery, much in demand for ball dresses, was especially effective in lamplight, because the “glint of the pieces added to the richness” as the wing casings replicated the jewel with the brilliance of emeralds and sapphires.

Embroidery using jewel-beetle wing casings was famed from the Mughal times as evidenced from museum pieces of sumptuous court garments, turbans, wedding outfits and waist sashes.
Embroidered onto fine muslins, satins, brocades, velvet and other luxury textiles, the beetlewings casings were couched with silk threads, gilt silver and gold wire.

Embroidered not only on valuable textiles, the wing casings were used to embellish ornate hand fans, theatrical costumes, paintings, book covers, jewellery and other decorative items.

The casings were available in colours of emerald green that reflected luminous layers of sapphire, amethyst and copper shades. Relatively small in size (extending from 3 to 80 mm in length, their shapes from cylindrical to oval) they were sewn down on the base textile either with a mirror stitch that encased it with overlapping stitches or through stitching it down through the minute holes punctured either on its two ends or in the centre, depending on the demands of the patterning.

Then and now
The casings were collected from the forests of Myanmar in the past. Distributed through Kolkata to embroiderers across India, this supply route has long fallen into disuse. With the jewel beetle’s short life span of 3 to 4 weeks in its adult stage, the wing casings are now farmed in accordance with the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and can now be easily accessed online or from Thailand.

The recently-concluded exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, The Fabric of India, featured many never-before-seen textiles. Included among the 200 pieces showcased from its collection was a muslin border for a women’s dress (dated 19th century) that was embroidered with these casings couched with silver wire.

Hope is eternal
More recently, examples from other parts of the world show a revival of the embroideries. In the film Snow White and the Huntsman, nominated for the Oscars for best costume, the gown worn by Charlize Theron in her role as the evil queen was embroidered with the wing casings of jewel beetles.

The embroidery and its art are almost lost in India. However, there is some revival by Asif Sheikh, an embroidery designer based in Ahmadabad, whose experiments hold out hope that techniques of the past can be recreated, however long and painstaking the process. Given the huge market in India for bejewelled textiles, there is the promise that the magnificence of the jewel-beetle wing casings, if revived, will have a splendid future.