Trefoil-shaped box and cover, box with three compartments, cover with finial, white nephrite jade inlaid with gold and gems, Mughal empire, 18th century; with stand 02580(IS), formerly in the Guthrie Collection

A trefoil-shaped box and cover, fashioned in white nephrite jade and polished all over.
The box has three compartments, corresponding with the lobes of the trefoil, and which are separated by integral partition walls which meet at the centre. The interior is smooth and unadorned while the external walls have been inlaid with fine gold wire in a intricate floral design which is bounded at the top, bottom and at the clefts between the lobes, by straight borders of fine gold wire inlay. The rim has been stepped, with a raised inner ring to enable the locating and securing of the cover to the box, this ring being at the same level as the partition walls. The base is flat and smooth, and there are two large chips to the raised inner ring as well as several cracks to the body, many of which are probably of natural origin.
The cover is gently domed with the underside being plain, and with a stepped rim to enable correct seating onto the box. On the upper surface, there is a central, separately fashioned finial that has been attached by means of a screw thread. It appears that the finial was originally set in place with an adhesive or resin which has since degraded, allowing the finial to become detachable. The whole upper surface is densely decorated in a floral design with inlaid gold or silver-gilt, 9 diamonds, 63 pale rubies and 42 pale emeralds (probably). Additionally, the finial is inset with a further one diamond and five pale rubies. All the stones have been mounted in reflective, closed-back settings, with those for the rubies and emeralds also having been coloured but which now show signs of deterioration and loss of colour. There are a few cracks to the cover, many of which are probably of natural origin.

This box and cover with stand [02580(IS)] were originally in the Guthrie collection and were purchased for the sum of £360-0-0, 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 of nephrite jade were made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century and have a matching stand which is also in the museum's collection: 02580(IS). The box has three internal compartments separated by partition walls fashioned from the same block of jade and which meet at the centre. The interior is smooth and unadorned while the external walls have been inlaid with fine gold wire in an intricate floral design which is bordered at the top, bottom and at the clefts between the lobes, by inlaid fine gold wire. The rim is stepped, with a raised inner ring to enable the cover to be secured precisely to the box. The base is flat and smooth, and there are two large chips to the raised inner ring as well as several cracks to the body, many of which are probably of natural origin.
The cover is gently domed and undecorated on the underside. Its stepped rim enables correct seating onto the box. On the upper surface, there is a central, separately fashioned finial that has been attached by means of a screw thread. It appears that the finial was originally set in place with an adhesive or resin which has since degraded, allowing the finial to become detachable. The whole upper surface is densely decorated in a floral design with inlaid gold or silver-gilt, 9 diamonds, 63 pale rubies and 42 pale emeralds (probably). Additionally, the finial is inset with a further one diamond and five pale rubies. All the stones have been mounted in reflective, closed-back settings, with those for the rubies and emeralds also having been coloured but which now show signs of deterioration and loss of colour. The box and its stand were 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. They were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.

02579(IS) to 02579A/(IS)