A priming flask, greenish grey nephrite jade, lion's and ibex's heads, gold and rubies, Mughal empire, 18th century, formerly in the Guthrie collection

A priming flask of slightly curved, tapering form that has been fashioned in pale greenish grey nephrite jade with brown patches. The flask has been made in two main parts, with the narrow end being carved as the head of an ibex with its two horns being pierced free of the body, only reconnecting at the tips. The eyes are small inset round ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings and there is a drill hole for the mouth that also forms the mouth of the flask. The other terminal is carved as a head of a lion with a mane carved in low relief and a gaping mouth which exposes his canines and his tongue which has been fashioned separately and cemented into place. He has eyes of inset ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings and his ears have been fashioned separately and attached. The join between the two parts has been obscured by a flat band of gold that has been shaped and chased to represent leaf fronds and it has a gold chain attached which holds a gold stopper at its other end which fits snugly into the mouth of the ibex. Around the gold band and extending towards the ibex's head, there is a symmetric design of inlaid gold wire and inset, flat pear-shaped ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings. In total there are fifteen inset rubies.

Transferred from the India Museum in 1879

This flask was originally in the Guthrie collection and was purchased for the sum of £24-0-0, when he sold 81 of his objects to The India Museum in 1868. It was subsequently transferred to The South Kensington Museum (later renamed The Victoria and Albert Museum) in 1879.

Charles Seton Guthrie was an important collector of eastern coins and Mughal Empire jade and rock crystal objects. He was the second son of Scottish parents, both of whom were from noble and landed families, and his father worked for the East India Company in Calcutta.
Guthrie most probably developed his interest in jade and rock crystal when he studied geology as a 17 year old cadet in 1825 in Addiscombe, and he joined the Bengal Engineers in 1828.
Through his family’s established connection with the Inglis and Lister families, he became acquainted with Harry Inglis and his Anglo-Indian wife Sophia (nee Lister). He may well have received gifts of objects that Harry had acquired as proceeds from his Indian military campaigns. Harry was the son and heir of George Inglis who owned Inglis & Co., a large Indian trading company.
During his time in India, Charles Guthrie enhanced his collections with acquisitions financed by his army pay and also income from properties in his late mother’s estate.
He subsequently retired at the honorary rank of Colonel in 1857, although he returned to England in 1855, at the same time as Harry and Sophia, due to having 2 years of accumulated leave.
Following Harry’s death in 1860, his embalmed body was returned to India, accompanied by Sophia and Charles, where it was interred in an above-ground tomb. Sophia inherited Harry’s vast estate, which almost certainly contained many fine jewels and Mughal objects. Sophia began living together with Charles in Calcutta, bearing him a son in 1862. Following a financially significant arrangement being agreed by Sophia with Charles, the two eventually married in 1863 with the family returning to England a short time thereafter.
Sophia died in 1866, with Charles being named as an executor with instruction to liquidate her un-itemised English estate which included “jewels, trinkets and shawls”.
Soon thereafter, in 1868, Guthrie sold part of his collection of jade and rock crystal objects to The India Museum and his large coin collection to a museum in Germany. Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie died in 1874 and the remainder of his collections was sold at auction, in accordance with the terms of his will, with many objects finding their way into other important collections and then subsequently to the museum.

This priming flask was made within the Mughal empire, probably in the early 18th century. It has been made in two parts from pale greenish grey nephrite jade with brown patches. The narrow terminal is carved in the form of an ibex, its horns undercut to be free of the body of the primer and only reconnecting at their tips. The eyes pf the ibex are small inset round ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings and there is a drill hole for the mouth that also forms the mouth of the flask. The other terminal is carved as a head of a lioness, with a mane carved in low relief and a gaping mouth which exposes the canines, and tongue which has been fashioned separately and cemented into place. The eyes are ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings and the ears have been fashioned separately and attached. The join between the two parts has been obscured by a flat band of gold that has been shaped and chased to represent leaf fronds and has a gold chain holding a gold stopper at its other end which fits with precision in the mouth of the ibex. Around the gold band and extending towards the ibex's head, there is a symmetric design of inlaid gold wire and inset, flat pear-shaped ruby cabochons in reflective, closed-back settings. In total there are fifteen inset rubies.
Primers were used to contain fine grain gunpowder (sometimes called serpentine) for a firearm. A measured amount of serpentine was placed in the external pan of the weapon and used to ignite the main charge within the barrel. Until the widespread adoption of the percussion cap as an ignition system in India in the middle of the 19th century, these flasks could to be used for either matchlocks or flintlocks.

The piece was part of the collection of hardstones belonging to Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie bought by the Indian Museum in 1868 and transferred to this museum in 1879.

This priming flask was almost certainly used in association with a hunting or sporting weapon, where such accessories were often highly decorated or made of high quality materials to reflect the status of the owner.

02585(IS)