Lot 354
354
A CARVED MUGHAL EMERALD, the pale green stone of rectangular form with bevelled sides, the front carved with a central flowering plant with three flowerheads and serrated curving leaves in a narrow cross-hatched border, the reverse carved with a similar stylised lily in a similar border, the sides with chevron motifs, the top and bottom pierced for suspension, late 17th or early 18th century

Details
A CARVED MUGHAL EMERALD, the pale green stone of rectangular form with bevelled sides, the front carved with a central flowering plant with three flowerheads and serrated curving leaves in a narrow cross-hatched border, the reverse carved with a similar stylised lily in a similar border, the sides with chevron motifs, the top and bottom pierced for suspension, late 17th or early 18th century
1½in. (5.3cm.) wide
Provenance
Sir Ernest Cassel (1851-1921) or his sister Wilhelmina, and thence by descent.

Sir Ernest Cassel was both King Edward VII's financier and his close personal friend, earning him the nickname 'Windsor Cassel'. Many of his financial ventures took him overseas; he financed the Aswan Dam on the Nile and attempted to build a railway from India to the Mediterranean. This emerald was very possibly collected on one of these trips.

Lot Essay

Carved emeralds have been an important part of royal regalia in various Islamic countries. Mughal emeralds can be found in the Persian crown jewels as well as in many of the royal collections in India. Although the colour of this stone is not as deep as many, the quality of the carving is fully up to that of the Imperial workshops in Delhi of the late 17th or early 18th century.

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