Quatrefoil box and cover, greyish green nephrite jade, inlaid gold decoration, inset ruby cabochon in cover, Mughal empire, 18th century, formerly in the Guthrie Collection

Quatrefoil box and cover, fashioned to a high standard in greyish green nephrite jade and polished all over.
The box is partitioned by integral walls into four compartments which correspond to the lobes of the quatrefoil. The exterior walls are decorated with inlaid gold wire in a geometric design consisting of a series of chevrons that point from the centre of each lobe towards the nearest junction with an adjacent lobe. This design is bounded on the upper and lower ends by an inset gold wire border. The base is flat and the rim has been stepped to give a raised inner ring to assist with the location and securing of the cover to the box.
The cover is gently domed with a smooth underside and the upper surface has been decorated with a symmetric floral design in inlaid gold wire. At the centre is set a single ruby cabochon in a reflective, closed-back gold setting.
There are a few natural, iron-stained cracks present, many of which have been skillfully obscured by the decoration. The craftsmanship is such that the cover and box make a snug fit, irrespective of their relative orientation.

This box and cover were originally in the Guthrie collection and were purchased for the sum of £18-0-0, 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 & 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 box and cover clearly illustrate the skills of the craftsmen who were producing fine objects of nephrite jade within the Mughal empire from the early 17th century. Each component has been expertly fashioned from a single piece of nephrite jade, a hard and durable material that requires patience and skill to work. This is especially true when the process requires hollowing out cavities to form containers or other receptacles. Here, the surfaces have been delicately carved, engraved and then inset with fine gold wire and a ruby. The box and cover have been so carefully fashioned that they will fit closely together irrespective of the relative positions of the lobes. The high level of craftsmanship suggest that this was made in the imperial workshops.
It was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie.

02544:1/(IS) to 02544:2/(IS)