A pot and cover, poppy bud handles on pot, white nephrite jade, rubies inset in gold, Mughal, late 17th or early 18th century, the rubies possibly later additions, formerly in the Guthrie Collection

A round pot and cover fashioned in white nephrite jade with rubies inset in gold in the form of flowers, leaves and trefoils.
The pot has a wide, slightly flared neck and mouth on a slightly squat, bulbous body that stands on a short ring foot that has been recessed. The foot recess has been carved in low relief as a poppy with four petals whose forward-curling tips form the rim on which the pot rests.
Around the lower part of the body and adjacent to the foot, there is a collar of upward pointing, five-lobed leaf fronds carved in low relief. From under this collar on opposite sides of the pot, a long leaf frond rises up towards the neck then develops into a drooping leaf and poppy bud that have been carved and pierced away from the body to form handles. Around the body, just under the neck, there is another collar of five-lobed leaf fronds, this time pointing downwards. The two collars, the two handles and the main body of the pot has been inset with a total of 323 of 324 ruby cabochons (1 is missing) in reflective closed-back gold mounts that may also been coloured. There is additional inlaid, gold wire detail.
The cover has been domed with a narrow raised rim and a raised central disc. In the centre there is an integral finial handle which has been inset with seven ruby cabochons in reflective closed back gold mounts. The rest of the upper surface has been inset with 86 of 88 ruby cabochons (2 are missing) in a series of trefoils, in reflective closed-back gold mounts that may also have been colour. There is additional inlaid gold wire detail.
The underside of the cover has been hollowed out and polished, with the rim being contoured to give a protruding inner ring to enable the cover to sit more securely onto the pot.

This pot and cover were originally in the Guthrie collection and were purchased for the sum of £216-0-0, 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.

This small pot and cover illustrate the skill of the craftsmen who were producing fine objects within the Mughal empire from the early 17th century, and throughout the 18th century. This vessel was probably made in a court workshop in the late 17th or early 18th century. Each component has been fashioned from a single piece of nephrite jade, which is a hard and durable material that requires patience and skill to work, and then it has been extensively decorated with an intricate design of numerous inset rubies in gold. The decoration of rubies in gold does not follow the design in low relief on the jade, and may be a slightly later enhancement.
It was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie.

02541(IS) to 02541A/(IS)