Cup, boat-shaped with rounded ends and handle at each end (one damaged), on marquise-shaped foot, rock crystal, India

A small, boat-shaped cup with rounded and raised ends and standing on a short, marquise-shaped, recessed foot. There is a small, carved handle at either end, one of which is damaged. There is a small crack that runs more or less parallel to and just under the surface of a side wall of the cup. An unsuccessful attempt has been made during the fashioning process to remove it. Fashioned in colourless rock crystal and polished all over.

This cup was acquired by William Tayler during his time in India (1829-1867). He subsequently sold it to the South Kensington Museum (later renamed the Victoria & Albert Museum) in 1874 for the sum of £3-0-0.

William Tayler was educated in England at Charterhouse and also spent a term at Christ Church, Oxford. He entered service with the East India Company on 30th April 1829, arriving in India in October of the same year. He held various posts in Bengal and was appointed Commissioner of Patna in 1855. During his service, he was able to acquire many objects, including hardstones, relating to the customs and religions of India as well as objects from other parts of South Asia.
He was criticised for his handling of the uprisings in Northern India and was moved to a lesser post before being suspended, ultimately resigning on 29th March 1859. He then practised as an advocate in the law courts of Bengal before returning to England in 1867.
He wrote a book about his experiences, entitled Thirty-eight Years in India, in which he states that "After my return to England, circumstances induced me, though with great reluctance, to part with the collection which is now in the South Kensington Museum".

This cup has been fashioned in India out of a single crystal of clear, colourless quartz. Its date is difficult to determine. Rock crystal is a hard and durable material which requires patience and skill to fashion such objects, especially when using basic equipment such as bow-driven lathes and wheels. The craftsmen who fashioned them would have been very skilled and even today, with access to modern equipment and abrasives, such an object would be difficult and time-consuming to reproduce.

913-1873