A squat, round, two-handled vessel and cover, greenish grey nephrite jade, inset gold and gems, Mughal empire, 18th century, formerly in the Guthrie Collection

A vessel and cover fashioned in greenish grey nephrite jade. Both have been decorated with inset gems in reflective, closed-back gold settings, with some having also been coloured, although much of the coloration has since deteriorated and faded.
The vessel is round with a squat body and a relatively tall, wide neck that flares near the rim. It has a short foot that has been carved in low relief as a flower whose outer row of eight petals curl forwards at the tips and on which the vessel stands. There are two opposing handles, each carved and pierced as a drooping leaf and flower bud. Around the top of the body, just below the junction with the neck, there is very narrow band of gold from which a collar of green nephrite leaves descends. Rising up from the foot, there are various flowers on stems with leaves, with two depicted as either in vases or growing in pots. This decoration is formed from shaped and carved gem materials including carnelian, emerald, green nephrite, lapis lazuli, rhodolite garnet, ruby and an unidentifiable near-colourless stone. There are some cracks around the body, neck and rim with some corresponding with the overlying inset stones. Some of the cracks are probably of natural origin but it is unclear if any have been induced by the setting of the inlaid stones. The foot of the vesssel is carved with an 8-pointed star at the centre and 8 overturning petals to form the foot.
The cover is round and domed with the upper surface decorated with inset stones. Around the rim is a band of 52 small ruby cabochons in triangular settings and in the centre is a large but heavily flawed ruby cabochon. This ruby is surrounded by a collar of eight emerald cabochons and then, midway to the rim, by a ring of six ruby cabochons alternating with six emerald cabochons, within two circular bands of inset gold wire and straddling a third. The nephrite dome is set into a gilt metal (probably silver) mount with the underside of the nephrite being fully enclosed, and the mount has a protruding inner rim for locating the cover onto the vessel.

This vessel and cover were originally in the Guthrie collection and were purchased for the sum of £211-0-0, 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 vessel and its cover were made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century. Each part has been expertly fashioned from a single piece of nephrite jade, which is 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. Furthermore, the surfaces have then been carved with recesses and set with gold and gems, a process which requires a lot of time and expertise to achieve. In this case, the vessel is set with gold, carnelian, emerald, lapis lazuli, rhodolite garnet and ruby. The cover is mounted with gilt silver, as is the rim of the vessel. It was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie who sold it with other objects from his collection to the Indian Museum in Leadenhall Street, London, in 1868. These were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.

02548(IS) to 02548A/(IS)