JAIPUR, NORTH INDIA, 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF GEM-SET AND ENAMELLED GOLD BANGLES
JAIPUR, NORTH INDIA, 19TH CENTURY
The ends formed by confronted elephant heads, the exterior diamond set against a blue enamel ground, the interior enamelled with a red, white and blue floral meander on a red ground, a removable pin screw opening the top
Each 2 3/4in. (6.9cm.) outer diam.

Provenance

With Horowitz & Cie, Geneva, 1989, from whom purchased by the present owner

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

Bangles with clasps moulded into fighting elephants are known as hathi-ka-kara. Though Dr. Pedro Moura Carvalho argues that the design seems to have originated in Benares, it was taken up by craftspeople across India (Pedro Moura Carvalho, Gems and Jewels of Mughal India, Oxford, 2010, p.253). Here, the design is executed using a colour palette which is typical of Jaipur in the second half of the nineteenth century: a comparison can be drawn with an enamelled dagger hilt which is part of the Khalili Collection which also features a sculpted elephant-head (Pedro Moura Carvalho, Gems and Jewels of Mughal India, Oxford, 2010, no.114, p.216). A pair of bangles of similar design to the present lot was sold by Sotheby's London, 24 October 2018, lot 178.

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