Lot 112. A repoussé and engraved gold flask, North India, second half 18th century, 8 ¾in. (22.2cm.) high. Estimate GBP 22,000 - GBP 28,000 (USD 28,424 - USD 36,176). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

On plain base, the facetted body with elegant floral sprays and scrolls, the central panels with a profuse floral spray inhabited with peacocks rising from, a gadrooned bulbous vase flanked with felines, with bulbous screw top with suspension chain.

Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, 28 April 2004, lot 160

Literature: Usha R Bala Krishnan, Meera Sushil Kumar, Dance of the Peacock, Jewellery Traditions of India, Mumbai, cat.431, p.266

Note: Gold objects from Mughal India that have survived until today are extremely rare. Many were melted down and re-used in jewellery and other decorative objects. The elegant sprays of our bottle find similarity with the intricacy and sophistication of north Indian, and especially Rajasthani turban ornaments and with the floral gold-inlaid patterns found on jade works. The floral composition of our bottle can be understood as a more ebullient take on the pervasive floral motifs found in classical Mughal art of the 17th century. A gold huqqa base with similar repoussé floral decoration attributed to the Deccan or Western India in the al-Sabah Collection (Manuel Keene, Treasury of the World: Jewelled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals, exhibition catalogue, London, 2001, no. 3.2, p. 45). A rare gold calligrapher’s tool case decorated in a related style sold at Christie’s, London, 10 October 2013, lot 213.

A gold calligrapher’s tool case, North India, 19th century, 7¼in. (18.4cm.) high. Price realised GBP 56,250 (USD 89,550) at Christie’s, London, 10 October 2013, lot 213. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Christie's. Arts of India, 25 May 2017, London, King Street