MUGHAL INDIA, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

The gold wire on these cups is inlaid using the kundan technique. After setting precious stones into a mount, layers of pure gold beaten until they are only one or two molecules thick are layered around them, taking advantage of the fact that gold leaf will attach itself to other gold upon which it is layered. Since it obviates the need for soldering, this technique allows delicate effects to be produced even on small vessels like this. This technique was used on all manner of small jade objects. Decoration similar to the present lot can be found on a scabbard chape in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait (LNS 210 HS, published in Manuel Keene and Salam Kaoukji, Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts in India in the Age of the Mughals, no.2.21, p. 39), as well as a hookah mouthpiece in the LA County Museum of Art, upon which are red flowers which greatly resemble those on two of the three cups (M.76.2.10). As for the shape of the cups, a relatively unadorned example is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (02546(IS)), while another was sold as part of Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence, Christie’s New York, 19 June 2019, lot 122.