Not currently on display at the V&A

Saucer

1650 to 1699 (made)
Place of origin

This saucer made within the Mughal empire, perhaps in the 18th century, has been fashioned from a single piece of rock crystal. This is a hard and durable material that requires patience and skill to work properly, and can be susceptible to mechanical or thermal damage especially when taken to a fine edge or thickness.
It was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Rock crystal, cut and polished using abrasives and abrasive-charged tools.
Brief description
Saucer, two-handled, rock crystal, Mughal, second half of 17th century, formerly in the Guthrie Collection
Physical description
A shallow, circular saucer with smooth, plain, polished surfaces and standing upon a very short, wavy but circular ring. On opposite sides, rising from the ring, are two small scroll handles, protruding slightly beyond the perimeter of the saucer. Fashioned in colourless rock crystal, it is flawless except for one veil that resembles a fingerprint.
Dimensions
  • 02613( is) width: 98.9mm (Note: Including the handles)
  • 02613( is) diameter: 88.5 to 88.9mm (Note: Diameter)
  • 02613( is) height: 9.1 to 9.7mm
  • 02613( is) depth: 7.3mm (Note: Depth from the rim, at the centre)
  • 02613( is) thickness: 1.1 to 1.6mm (Note: Thickness at the rim)
Dimensions vary with orientation
Style
Object history
This saucer was originally in the Guthrie collection and was purchased together with cup [02612(IS)] for the sum of £28-0-0. They both had the Guthrie collection number 192. 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.
Summary
This saucer made within the Mughal empire, perhaps in the 18th century, has been fashioned from a single piece of rock crystal. This is a hard and durable material that requires patience and skill to work properly, and can be susceptible to mechanical or thermal damage especially when taken to a fine edge or thickness.
It was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie.
Collection
Accession number
02613(IS)

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
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