Wine Cup
c. 1650 (made)
Place of origin |
This delicately fashioned wine cup very clearly illustrates the skill of craftsmen within the Mughal empire in the second half of the 17th century. Made from a single piece of slightly greyish white nephrite jade, it has a reasonable overall polish. The deep bowl has been fashioned as a half of a partially opened flower bud, sectioned lengthwise. It is narrow at one end with an acanthus-like calyx out of which rises a curling volute which forms the handle. The bowl has five lobes and widens towards the opposite end which has a scalloped, slightly outwardly curving rim and the interior surface has a ridged surface corresponding to the lobes. The outer surface has a ribbed surface with the valleys between the ribs also corresponding to the lobes. It stands on a pear-shaped foot that has a concave recess carved into it. There are three iron-stained healed cracks or flaws, two which cross and one being separate. The cup was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie who sold it with other objects from his collection to the Indian Museum in Leadenhall Street, London, in 1868. They were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.
Object details
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Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Nephrite jade, carved and polished using abrasives and abrasive-charged tools. |
Brief description | Cup, carved as half of a flower bud, five-lobed white nephrite jade, Mughal, second half 17th century, formerly in the Guthrie Collection |
Physical description | The fine-walled cup has been fashioned from a single piece of slightly greyish white nephrite jade with a reasonable overall polish. The deep bowl has been fashioned as a half of a partially opened flower bud, sectioned lengthwise. It is narrow at one end with an acanthus-like calyx out of which rises a curling volute which forms the handle. The bowl has five lobes and it widens towards the opposite end which has a scalloped, slightly outwardly curving rim and the interior surface has a ridged surface corresponding to the lobes. The outer surface has a ribbed surface with the valleys between the ribs also corresponding to the lobes. It stands on a pear-shaped foot that has a concave recess carved into it. There are three iron-stained healed cracks or flaws, two which cross and one being separate. |
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Style | |
Object history | This wine cup was originally in the Guthrie collection and was purchased together with cup [02553(IS)] and spoon [02603(IS)] for the sum of £9-0-0, 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. |
Summary | This delicately fashioned wine cup very clearly illustrates the skill of craftsmen within the Mughal empire in the second half of the 17th century. Made from a single piece of slightly greyish white nephrite jade, it has a reasonable overall polish. The deep bowl has been fashioned as a half of a partially opened flower bud, sectioned lengthwise. It is narrow at one end with an acanthus-like calyx out of which rises a curling volute which forms the handle. The bowl has five lobes and widens towards the opposite end which has a scalloped, slightly outwardly curving rim and the interior surface has a ridged surface corresponding to the lobes. The outer surface has a ribbed surface with the valleys between the ribs also corresponding to the lobes. It stands on a pear-shaped foot that has a concave recess carved into it. There are three iron-stained healed cracks or flaws, two which cross and one being separate. The cup was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie who sold it with other objects from his collection to the Indian Museum in Leadenhall Street, London, in 1868. They were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879. |
Collection | |
Accession number | 02570(IS) |
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Record created | June 25, 2009 |
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