NORTH INDIA OR THE DECCAN, LATE 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY

A number of features make this pair of bracelets stand out from the normally encountered makara head examples. The most noticeable is the colouring of the makara heads, each of which is also fixed with a split pin, unlike the normal arrangement of hinging a quarter of the bracelet. The split pins probably replace earlier screw thread fixings. The enamelling on the interior is also rare to find on such a pair of bracelets; this combination of colours worked in a floral lattice is found on a vase in the Cleveland Museum of Art, attributed to circa 1700 (Zebrowski, Mark: Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India, London, 1997, no.29, p.52) and on a dagger sold in these Rooms and now in the al-Sabah Collection (13 October 1988, lot 113; Keane, Manuel and Kaoukji, Salam: Treasury of the World, Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals, London, 2001, no.6.36, p.77). It is also found on one magnificent gemset bracelet in the Hermitage Museum (Masterpieces of Islamic Art in the Hermitage Museum, exhibition catalogue, Kuwait, 1990, no.95, p.126).