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Wine cup of Shah Jahan

Wine Cup
1657 (made)
Place of origin
Mughal empire (made)

This remarkable cup of white nephrite jade was made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) and is inscribed with his title, Second Lord of the Conjunction. This follows the conventions of royal titulature in the Persian-speaking world to which the Mughals belonged, and specifically alludes to Timur, the Central Asian ruler from whom the emperors were descended, who styled himself 'Lord of the Conjunction'. The cup is dated 1067 of the Islamic calendar, and regnal year 31, which means that it was made in 1657 AD. In the 19th century, the cup was owned by Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie (1808-1875), a renowned collector of Mughal and other hardstones.

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read The arts of the Mughal Empire The great age of Mughal art lasted from about 1580 to 1650 and spanned the reigns of three emperors: Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Hindu and Muslim artists and craftsmen from the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent worked with Iranian masters in the masculine environment of the r...
read A wine cup for a Mughal emperor This unique wine cup, made of white nephrite jade, is an outstanding example of jade craftsmanship and is one of the most exquisite surviving objects from the court of the Mughal dynasty that ruled the Indian subcontinent from about 1526 to 1857.

Object details

Categories
Drinking
Ceremonial Objects
Royalty
Stoneware
Object type
Wine cup
TitleWine cup of Shah Jahan (popular title)
Materials and techniques
White nephrite jade
Jade
Brief description
White nephrite jade wine cup, made in the court workshops at Agra or Delhi, dated 1067, regnal year 31, ie 1657.
Physical description
White nephrite jade wine cup with lobed body, resting on a flower foot worked in high relief. The naturalistic goat's head recurves towards the body. On the outer wall is a small cartouche giving the titles of Shah Jahan as Lord of the Second Conjunction, the date 1067 and the regnal year 31.
Dimensions
  • Length: 18.7cm
  • Width: 14cm
Style
Mughal Court
Credit line
Purchased with Art Fund support, and the assistance of the Wolfson Foundation, Messrs Spink and Son, and an anonymous benefactor
Object history
Made for Shah Jahan, and acquired in the 19th century by Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie. It was formerly in the possession of Mr. R. M. W. Walker, on whose death it was sold by Christie & Co (12/7/1945, lot 146) and passed from the purchasers, Messrs Spink, to Queen Marie of Yugoslavia. It again came into the hands of Spink, who then sold it to a Mr Lazarus, who discovered the inscription and sold it back to the vendors. According to Adrian Maynard of Spink (1991) the museum coloured the inscription on acquisition to make it more obvious
Subjects depicted
Flower
Ram
Summary
This remarkable cup of white nephrite jade was made for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) and is inscribed with his title, Second Lord of the Conjunction. This follows the conventions of royal titulature in the Persian-speaking world to which the Mughals belonged, and specifically alludes to Timur, the Central Asian ruler from whom the emperors were descended, who styled himself 'Lord of the Conjunction'. The cup is dated 1067 of the Islamic calendar, and regnal year 31, which means that it was made in 1657 AD. In the 19th century, the cup was owned by Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie (1808-1875), a renowned collector of Mughal and other hardstones.
Bibliographic references
  • Robert Skelton, Shah Jahan's Jade Cup, Victoria & Albert Museum Masterpieces, Sheet 16, 1978. Swallow, Deborah and John Guy eds. Arts of India: 1550-1900. Text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : V&A Publications, 1990, pp. 94-95, ill. no. 73. Stephen Markel, 'Fit for an Emperor. Inscribed Works of Decorative Art Acquired by the Great Mughals', Oriental Art, Volume 21, Number 8, August 1990, fig. 11, p. 28 Ming Wilson, '1760 - An Important Year in the Production of Chinese Jade', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, Vol 73, 2008-2009, fig. 2, p. 56. Susan Stronge, 'Jade at the Mughal Court in the 17th Century', Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, volume 76.2011-2012, pp. 71-84 Rogers, Emma: Arts of Asia, vol. 45, no. 5, September - October 2015, "The Parasol Foundation Trust Programme: digitising and cataloguing the V&A's South Asian collection.", p. 111, pl. 39.
  • Robert Skelton, The Shah Jahan cup, V&A Masterpiece leaflet
  • Susan Stronge, 'Colonel Guthrie's Collection', Oriental Art, vol. XXXIX, no. 4, 1993-4, fig. 1 p. 5.
  • The Indian Heritage. Court life and Arts under Mughal Rule London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982 Number: ISBN 0 906969 26 3 p. 118. cat. no. 356. Rosemary Crill
  • Ayers, J. Oriental Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1983, ISBN 0-85667-120-7 p. 71
  • Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968 pl. 53
  • Irwin, John, C., A Brief Guide to Indian Art, H.M.S.O. 1962 fig. 28
  • Irwin, John; Indian Art: Victoria & Albert Museum departmental guide, H.M.S.O. ISBN 0 905209117, 1978 fig. 28, pp. 22-23
  • Stronge, S. Made for Mughal Emperors. Royal Treasures from Hindustan. London and New York, 2010 p. 215, pl. 178
Collection
South & South East Asia Collection
Accession number
IS.12-1962

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Record createdFebruary 3, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O73769/wine-cup-of-shah-jahan-wine-cup/
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