Kohinoor Jewellers

Kohinoor Jewellers is a jewelry shop (really a major showroom) known for its emeralds and its collection of needle paintings, or three-dimensional embroidered panels. Run by the fifth generation of the Mathur family of jewelers, Kohinoor has a private museum devoted to the embroidered artworks by the late Indian embroidery artist Padmashri Shams. The intricate silk needlework must be seen to be believed, but pieces have been borrowed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a Saudi sheik reportedly offered more than $3 million for one. Some are embedded with thousands of semi-precious stones and took the master more than 20 years to finish.

Shams, who was honored as a national treasure before his death in 1999, trained many disciples, and their work is for sale here. There is also a floor devoted to the Kohinoor jewelry collection, which includes modern designs and antique pieces, including pieces owned by Mumtaz Mahal, for whom the Taj Mahal was built.

Though visitors often think that they should go to Jaipur to buy jewels, Kohinoor has a fabulous collection, much of which has a slightly more Indo-Western fusion style, and the fixed prices and non-aggressive sales demeanor of the staff make it a very good option. Don’t miss the embroidered evening purses on the first floor, which range from $8 to $300 depending on whether they include semi-precious stones.