Salver, mother-of-pearl on metal frame, Gujarat, early 17th century.

Salver, circular, made of mother-of-pearl sections in a rosette radiating out from the centre; the sections secured with iron pins and resting on a metal frame. The rim has a brass fillet.

"When acquired by the Museum in 1857, these pieces were thought to be Italian. The conviction that such articles were European was motivated not only by their Western shape, but also by the fact that seventeenth- and eighteenth-century continental goldsmiths consciously copied Gujarati mother-of-pearl work, translating its effects into familiar and new forms, thus creating problems of attribution for future scholars that still exist
today."
For comparable pieces see Barbara Wills, Susan La Niece, Bet McLeod and Caroline Cartwright, "A shell garniture from Gujarat, India in the British Museum", The British Museum Technical Research Bulletin, Volume 1, 2007, pp. 1-8.

This dish and the set it belongs to are Indian in origin. They were made in Gujarat. However, when the V&A acquired the set in 1857, curators thought these pieces were Italian. This was because the set had a European shape. Another reason was that from about 1600 to 1700 European goldsmiths deliberately copied Gujarati mother-of-pearl work for both familiar and new forms. This created problems of identification for future scholars that still exist today.

4282-1857