Lot 185
185
A GEM-SET SILVER AND SILVER-GILT CROWN
These lots have been imported from outside the EU … Read more
A GEM-SET SILVER AND SILVER-GILT CROWN

NORTH INDIA, LATE 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details
A GEM-SET SILVER AND SILVER-GILT CROWN
NORTH INDIA, LATE 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Of curved form with alternating rosette and boteh finials set on top of diamond-set openwork panels each centred on rosettes with ruby or emerald-set centres, the openwork panels on a white metal frame with attachment loops at either end
10½in. (27cm.) across
Special notice
These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

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Lot Essay

This crown was probably made to serve as a crown for a Jain sculpture of lokapurusha or the ‘cosmic man’. Crowns which normally adorn this figural representation of the Jain view of the universe have cusped edges and are decorated with scrolling flowering vines. For a related image of a painted representation of lokapurusha see Pratapaditya Pal, The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, exhibition catalogue, 1995, cat.103, pp. 230-31. That painting of lokapurusha which was formerly in the Paul F. Walter Collection later sold at Christie’s, New York, 20 March 2009, lot 1344.

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