A scabbard locket, shield-shaped, dark green nephrite jade, inlaid white nephrite jade, gold and rubies, flower and leaf design, Mughal, 18th century, formerly in the Guthrie collection

A scabbard mount fashioned in dark green nephrite jade. It is shield-shaped with the edges of the lower end being gently scalloped with three lobes while the edges at the mouth have been shaped with two concave indents that meet in a central ridge. In profile from either end, the mount is biconvex with a central, elongated oval aperture. There are two fine bands of inlaid gold wire that follow the outline of the mouth's edge and each face has been further decorated with a flower and leaf design formed from inlaid sections of white nephrite jade that have surface detail carved in low relief. Additional detail has been provided by inlaid gold wire and a small inset round ruby cabochon in a reflective, closed-back setting. On one face there is a small silver lug that has attached using a small hole and a split pin. This lug has been drilled with a hole that runs perpendicular to the sides of the mount. The object has previously been broken in half and it has been repaired using glue or resin and gold pins. There is an inner metal sleeve, possibly of silver.

Transferred from the India Museum in 1879

This scabbard mount was originally in the Guthrie collection and was purchased by 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 scabbard mount was made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century, with a matching piece also in the museum's collection: 02533(IS). This is the piece at the opening of the scabbard which keeps the aperture readily accessible to receive the blade. The body has been fashioned from a single piece of nephrite jade which is a hard and durable material that is well-suited tobeing in repeated contact with a steel blade and it requires skill and patience to work successfully, especially when cavities have to be excavated. The dark green nephrite body has then been recessed and inlaid with carved white nephrite, rubies and gold. The superb quality of the workmanship as well as the materials used suggest that it was made in a court workshop.
The mount from the scabbard of a sword or dagger was made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century. It was bought with the chape from the same scabbard - 02533(IS) - by the Indian Museum with other hardstones from the collection of Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie, all of which were transferred to the South Kensington Museum in 1879.

02532(IS)