Ring

Object Type
Thumb rings of precious materials were worn by the emperor and his immediate circle throughout the Mughal period. They were made of jewelled and enamelled gold, as in this example, or from hardstones such as jade, agate or carnelian. Very rarely they were made from precious stones such as emeralds. Mughal paintings depict rings of this type in groups of two or three suspended on silken threads from sashes of the emperor or his sons. Such rings were also worn on the thumb. It is probable that they were emblems of royalty.

Materials & Making
One of the quintessential techniques of Indian jewellery is the use of kundan (highly refined gold) to set stones. Such jewellery is rarely solid gold, but is usually hollow, and then enamelled if this is part of the decorative scheme. Molten lac (a natural resin) is then poured into the hollow cavity. When the lac has cooled but is still slightly soft, precious stones are pushed into it over a layer of kundan. More kundan is then built up around the edges of the stone to secure it firmly.

People
The ring came from the collection of Colonel Arthur Seton Guthrie, who served in India with the Bengal Engineers from 1828 to 1857. He formed a considerable collection of Mughal hardstones, including thumb rings. This ring is the only piece of jewellery from his collection a material other than hardstone. He sold part of his collection to the Indian Museum (later absorbed into the collections of the South Kensington Museum, now the V&A) in 1868.

Design & Designing
The enamelled design on the inside of the ring is extremely unusual. It seems to have inspired pieces made by the London jeweller Robert Phillips (1810-1881) of Cockspur Street. He exhibited a necklace in the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 with an identical pattern enamelled in green on one side and red on the other. Red was a dominant colour for enamels on Mughal jewellery.