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Wine cup - Wine cup of Shah Jahan

Wine cup of Shah Jahan

  • Object:

    Wine cup

  • Place of origin:

    India (made)

  • Date:

    1657 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    White nephrite jade

  • Credit Line:

    Purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund, the Wolfson Foundation, Messrs Spink and Son, and an anonymous benefactor

  • Museum number:

    IS.12-1962

  • Gallery location:

    South Asia, room 41, case 19

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This unique wine 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, following the conventions of royal titulature in the Persian-speaking world, and specifically alluding to Timur, the Central Asian ruler from whom the Mughals were descended. It is also dated 1067 of the Islamic calendar, and regnal year 31, which mean that it was made in 1657 AD. The cup was originally in the collection of Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie (1808-1875), who had a renowned collection of Mughal hardstones.

Place of Origin

India (made)

Date

1657 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

White nephrite jade

Dimensions

Length: 18.7 cm, Width: 14 cm

Object history note

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 Mr Lazarus, who discovered the inscription and sold it back to the vendors.

Descriptive line

White nephrite jade wine cup. Mughal, Indian, dated AH 1067, regnal year 31 = AD 1657.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

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.
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.
Rosemary Crill, in The Indian Heritage. Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, V&A, 1982, cat. 318, p.111, ISBN 0906969263.

Materials

Jade

Subjects depicted

Flower; Ram

Categories

Drinking

Collection code

SSEA

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Qr_O73769
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