NORTH INDIA, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A MUGHAL EMERALD AND RUBY INSET PALE GREY JADE FLYWHISK
NORTH INDIA, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
The flaring cup-shaped mouth with vertical panels terminating in cusped rim resting on a tubular shaft with rounded lower terminal, the shaft inlaid with spiralling meandering flowering and leafy vine, similar motifs around the terminal, the mouth with separate vertical jade panels set into a silver body each inlaid with a vertical floral spray terminating in a palmette, the panels divided by bands of rubies set in silver, mouth now filled
7¼in. (18.4cm.) high

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The bowl of this flywhisk is made with eight panels of white or near-white jade which are fixed around a sheet silver lining. They are also held in place by vertical bands of rubies set in precious metal. Each jade panel is also inlaid along its length with floral designs inlaid with rubies and emeralds. This precise combination is that which is found on the body of the Clive bottle sold in these Rooms 27 April 2001, lot 156, even to the number of jade panels that have been used to create the form. And while the decoration here is of floral sprays rather than the lattice on the Clive flask, the quality of inlay here is also very fine indeed. Similar settings in hardstones can be seen in the handle of a dagger in the al-Sabah collection attributed to Mughal or Deccani India of the mid-17th century (Manuel Keene and Salam Kaoukji, Treasury of the World, exhibition catalogue, london, 2001, no.2.16, p.37).

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