NORTH INDIA, MID TO LATE 19TH CENTURY

Details

A DIAMOND, PEARL AND GEM-SET GOLD PENDANT
NORTH INDIA, MID TO LATE 19TH CENTURY
The pendant with oval hollow-back cabochon sapphire, cabochon foiled emeralds and rubies, triangular-cut diamonds, the edges and reverse enamelled, with a pearl hanging element suspended below
1 ¾in. (4.6cm.) height

Provenance

Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence, Christie's New York, 19 June 2019, lot 306

Literature

Amin Jaffer, Beyond Extravagance: A Royal Collection of Gems and Jewels, New York, 2013, no. 35, p. 104
Susan Stronge, Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection, London, 2015, p. 96, no. 47
Amin Jaffer, Jewels of the Mughal Emperors and Maharajas: Treasures from the Al Thani Collection, Miho Museum, 2016, p. 27, no. 4
Amin Jaffer and Amina Okada, From the Great Mughals to the Maharajas: Jewels from the Al Thani Collection, Réunion des Nationaux, Paris, 2017, p. 232, no.172.
Amin Jaffer, Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas, Milan, p. 184, no. 122
Amin Jaffer, B. Haikun, W. Yuegong, Treasures from the Al Thani Collection: Gems and Jewels of India, Beijing, 2018, p. 210, no. 126

Exhibited

Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 18 November 2015 - 16 March 2016
Jewels of the Mughal Emperors and Maharajas: Treasures from the Al Thani Collection, Miho Museum, Japan, 01 October 2016 - 11 December 2016
Des Grands Moghols aux Maharajahs Joyaux de la Collection Al Thani, Grand Palais, Paris, 29 March 2017 - 05 May 2017
Treasures of the Mughals and the Maharajas, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 09 September 2017 - 03 January 2018
Masterpieces from the Al Thani Collection: Gems and Jewels of India, Palace Museum, Beijing, 17 April 2018 - 18 August 2018

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Large sapphires were popular in Mughal jewellery recorded from the time of Jahangir (r. 1605-27). Various portraits of the Emperor show him with large sapphires worn around his neck, turban, or both as in a famous portrait by the artist Daulat now in the Al Thani Collection (Amin Jaffer (ed.), Treasures of the Al Thani Collections at the Hôtel de la Marine, Paris, 2021, p.325; ill. p. 324). However, the prominent use of the stone most likely indicates a Muslim rather than Hindu owner. It is inauspicious for Hindus identify with a stone associated with Saturn (Jaffer and Okada, op.cit., 232). A fine 18th century turban ornament set with a large central sapphire presented by the Nawab of Bengal to Admiral Charles Watson (d. 1757) is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (IS.3&A-1982).

This pendant has an AGL, 2019, report no. 1100348: Australia, no gemological evidence of heat.

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