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Box and Cover thumbnail 2
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Box and Cover

c.1800-1850 (made)
Place of origin

Although the date of manufacture is unclear, this box and cover closely resemble objects that were made for, and acquired from, the Great Exhibition of 1851. This exquisitely pierced and carved box and cover very clearly illustrate the skills of craftsmen working within the Mughal empire. The oval box and cover are each fashioned from a single piece of pale greyish green nephrite jade with flower and leaf pierced openwork over the whole body. The interior surfaces are smooth and polished and the exteriors are further decorated with detail carved in low relief. The box has a raised inner ring to the rim, to enable the lid to be located securely and it stands on an oval, pierced foot with a narrow border. There is a narrow, gold wire band inset just below the rim. The cover has an inner band of gold wire set into the top and there is a second band inset just above the rim which is recessed on the inner edge to enable it to sit securely on the box. This 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. They were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Box
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Nephrite and gold, with the fashioning, piercing, carving and polishing being achieved using abrasives and abrasive-charged tools.
Brief description
An oval box and cover, pierced and carved openwork, flower and leaf design, inset gold wire bands, pale greyish green nephrite jade, Mughal empire, formerly in the Guthrie Collection
Physical description
An oval box and cover, fashioned in pale greyish green nephrite jade with flower and leaf pierced openwork over the whole body. The interior surfaces are smooth and polished and the exteriors are further decorated with detail carved in low relief.
The box has a raised inner ring to the rim, to enable the lid to be located securely and it stands on an oval, pierced foot with a narrow border. There is a narrow, gold wire band inset just below the rim.
The cover has an inner band of gold wire set into the top and there is a second band inset just above the rim which is recessed on the inner edge to enable it to sit securely on the box.
Dimensions
  • 02559( is) length: 101.4mm (Note: External length of the box)
  • 02559( is) width: 78.2mm (Note: External width of the box)
  • 02559( is) height: 29.2 to 29.8mm
  • 02559( is) depth: 27.8mm (Note: Depth from the rim, at the centre)
  • 02559( is) length: 64.5mm (Note: Length of the foot)
  • 02559( is) width: 46.4mm (Note: Width of the foot)
  • 02559 a ( is) length: 101.1mm (Note: External length of the cover)
  • 02559 a ( is) width: 78.35mm (Note: External width of the cover)
  • 02559 a ( is) height: 22.2mm
Object history
This box and cover were originally in the Guthrie collection and were purchased for the sum of £38-0-0, 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.
Summary
Although the date of manufacture is unclear, this box and cover closely resemble objects that were made for, and acquired from, the Great Exhibition of 1851. This exquisitely pierced and carved box and cover very clearly illustrate the skills of craftsmen working within the Mughal empire. The oval box and cover are each fashioned from a single piece of pale greyish green nephrite jade with flower and leaf pierced openwork over the whole body. The interior surfaces are smooth and polished and the exteriors are further decorated with detail carved in low relief. The box has a raised inner ring to the rim, to enable the lid to be located securely and it stands on an oval, pierced foot with a narrow border. There is a narrow, gold wire band inset just below the rim. The cover has an inner band of gold wire set into the top and there is a second band inset just above the rim which is recessed on the inner edge to enable it to sit securely on the box. This 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. They were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.
Bibliographic reference
The art of India and Pakistan, a commemorative catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1947-8. Edited by Sir Leigh Ashton. London: Faber and Faber, [1950] p. 226, cat. no. 1132
Collection
Accession number
02559(IS) to 02559A/(IS)

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Record createdJune 25, 2009
Record URL
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