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Lot Essay
This set of six bottles are from a known group sometimes called case bottles or gin bottles - their shape recalling that of taller German and Dutch bottles that were held within a fitted box. It had previously been suggested that the bottles were probably intended to be in sets of six or eight, and it is likely the painted scenes within such a set related to each other (Carboni, Glass from Islamic Lands: The Al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait National Museum, London, 2001, p.389). The appearance of this group confirms this theory.
In his discussion of a group of three of these bottles in the Al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait, Stefano Carboni remarks on a close Dutch connection with this type of bottle. Dutch influence remained strong in Gujarat well into the 18th century, and several other examples are capped by a Dutch coin that was minted to identify produce imported from abroad (Stefano Carboni, op. cit., pp.388-90, cat. 106a-c). One such bottle in the Victoria & Albert Museum, catalogued by Susan Stronge, is published in The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, London 1982, no. 396, p.126. Stronge says that three other examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, all acquired in 1867 from the same collection, are also capped by the same Dutch coin.
Carboni recounts that a Gujarati craftsman named Ram Singh Malam had learnt his glassmaking skills during three separate trips to Europe, the first being to the Netherlands, and was encouraged by Maharao Lakha, the ruler of Kutch (r.1741-60), to open a glassmaking factory in the town of Bhuj on his return (Carboni, 2001, p. 389).
These bottles are made in two-part moulds, that is to say, two parts of triangular cross-section, the seams being in opposite corners which were then painted over to conceal them. (Marilyn Jenkins, Islamic Glass: A Brief History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall 1986, no.51, Carboni op cit 2001, p.389). With the other two corners likewise painted and a cusped arch linking each with its neighbour, the four sides become separate panels for decoration within a continuous arcade, with the standard pattern for decoration being that figural scenes alternate with panels of floral decoration. It is unclear whether the glass was imported from Europe, but it is accepted that the painting is purely of Indian origin. This combination of European glass technique, Chinese design in the landscape scenes, and Indian execution of the painting is an indication of the important role India played in world sea trade at this period.
In his discussion of a group of three of these bottles in the Al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait, Stefano Carboni remarks on a close Dutch connection with this type of bottle. Dutch influence remained strong in Gujarat well into the 18th century, and several other examples are capped by a Dutch coin that was minted to identify produce imported from abroad (Stefano Carboni, op. cit., pp.388-90, cat. 106a-c). One such bottle in the Victoria & Albert Museum, catalogued by Susan Stronge, is published in The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, London 1982, no. 396, p.126. Stronge says that three other examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum, all acquired in 1867 from the same collection, are also capped by the same Dutch coin.
Carboni recounts that a Gujarati craftsman named Ram Singh Malam had learnt his glassmaking skills during three separate trips to Europe, the first being to the Netherlands, and was encouraged by Maharao Lakha, the ruler of Kutch (r.1741-60), to open a glassmaking factory in the town of Bhuj on his return (Carboni, 2001, p. 389).
These bottles are made in two-part moulds, that is to say, two parts of triangular cross-section, the seams being in opposite corners which were then painted over to conceal them. (Marilyn Jenkins, Islamic Glass: A Brief History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Fall 1986, no.51, Carboni op cit 2001, p.389). With the other two corners likewise painted and a cusped arch linking each with its neighbour, the four sides become separate panels for decoration within a continuous arcade, with the standard pattern for decoration being that figural scenes alternate with panels of floral decoration. It is unclear whether the glass was imported from Europe, but it is accepted that the painting is purely of Indian origin. This combination of European glass technique, Chinese design in the landscape scenes, and Indian execution of the painting is an indication of the important role India played in world sea trade at this period.