LATE MUGHAL INDIA, CIRCA 1850

Details

An royal enamelled gold gem-set perfume flask
Late Mughal India, circa 1850
Of baluster form on short foot with dome shaped cover terminating in floral finial set with a rose cut diamond, the body of the flask covered in enamel divided into four panels alternately with sprays of white flowers in reserve on a copper-coloured enamel ground alternating with green panels with floral sprays set with table cut diamonds, further floral enamel work on the shoulders, the foot and cover set with diamonds, the underside of the foot plain gold inscribed Zeenit Mahal Begum in blue enamel, plain outer green enamel band, original blue velvet covered presentation box
3 in. (7.6 cm.) high

Special notice

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Lot Essay

The reign of Bahadur Shah II (r. 1837-58) marks the end of Muslim rule in India and the splendour that was the Mughal dynasty. Although he had many wives and children, his favourite wife was Zeenit Mahal Begum. They married when he was sixty-two years old and she was seventeen. She zealously promoted the cause of their son, Mirza Jawan Bakht, over the heir apparent. The Company agent, Sir Thomas Metcalf, supported the heir apaprent, Mirza Fakr al-Din, but died in mysterious circumstances along with other Englishmen involved. In 1856, Mirza Fakhr al-Din also suddenly died, and the Begum fell under suspicion.
When in 1857 the mutinous sepoys marched to Delhi and begged Bahadur Shah to lead them, he agreed. His attempt to restore the prestige and power of the Mughal throne failed and he lived out his exile in Rangoon in the company of Zeenit Mahal Begum. The royal party of seventeen (six family members, three courtesans and eight servants) lived in a small compound until Bahadur Shah's death in 1862 at the age of 87.
Carey Welch, S: India, Art and Culture, New York, 1985, pp. 429 and 435.

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