Mughal jade at Sotheby's London, 01 May 2019

11 avril 2019

Mughal jade at Sotheby's London, 01 May 2019

Lot 159. A Mughal carved jade candlestick, North India, 19th century; 18cm. height, 10cm. max. diam. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the jade carved in typical candlestick form with hollow cylindrical interior, the exterior with vertical ribs, stylised leaves, and ropework borders.

Note: Jade was one of the primary materials for Mughal sculptural expression between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It was used in a wide variety of Mughal ornamentations such as weapon hilts, wine cups, boxes amongst others. Such objects were mentioned by the sixteenth century European traveler, Francois Bernier, as items of presentation by and for Mughal Emperors and the Emperor Jahangir was himself associated with a collection of engraved jade wine cups (Constable 1891, p. 426). Nephrite jade was sourced from the Kunlun Mountains in China’s Xinjiang province and was symptomatic of a wider Asiatic trade pioneered by the fourteenth century Chinese Ming and Turco-Mongol Timurid dynasty, the latter from whom the Indian Mughals claimed descent. The extensive use of jade, with its exotic origins, may have reflected Mughal genealogical aspirations as well as their outward desire to engage with and subsume foreign cultures. Despite a lack of surviving textual sources, it has been speculated that the techniques of Mughal jade working would have utilised those found in other craft industries, such as gemstone lapidaries, who would have used hard abrasives and bow-lathes in their production (Markel 2008).

The use of jade in the fabrication of a candlestick is highly rare and unusual. The form takes on that of medieval bell shaped candlesticks found throughout the Islamic world, a direct emulation which indicates that their wasn’t an extensive developing tradition of Mughal jade candlesticks. The closest parallels to such an object can be found in East Asia. A Ming era jade candlestick was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1935-1936 ( St. George Spendlove & Royal Academy of Arts 1935, pl. 251, no. 2790) and another can be found in the National Palace Museum of Taipei (Shu-Ping 1983, pp. 254-55, pl. 65). This piece therefore retains some stylistic heritage with the Chinese origins of its material and is a testament to the extensive intra-Asiatic movement of ideas and techniques.

Lot 164. A Mughal calligraphic jade pendant (haldili), India, dated 1005 AH/1598-99 AD; 5.6 by 5.2cm. Estimate 4,000 — 6,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

of drop shape form, the surface carved in cursive calligraphy, remnants of red material.

Note: Inscriptions: Qur'an, Ayat al-Kursi 'The Throne Verse', surah al-Baqara (II).

The shape (without a drill hole at the top) indicates that this jade pendant would have been intended to be mounted, such as a similar example sold at Christie's, 10 April 2014, lot 130, also featuring the Ayat al-Kursi inscription and dated 1006 AH/1597 (just one year after this plaque).

Lot 168. A Mughal carved jade bowl, North India, circa 18th century; 6cm. height, 15cm. diam. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

naturally striated jade bowl finely carved in low relief with a petalled foot, flowerheads and stylised leaves along body, fitted in old satin and velvet-lined box.

Note: A jade bowl with similarly stylised foliate decoration is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. no. 02554(IS). The bowl was purchased by the then India Museum in London in 1868 from the Guthrie collection.

Lot 177. A Mughal gem-set jade-hilted dagger (khanjar), India, 18th-19th century; 30cm. Estimate 25,000 — 35,000 GBP. Lot sold 32,500 GBP (37,681 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the jade hilt of pistol grip form decorated in low relief with a flowers and foliage on each face rising to a lobed pommel decorated with semi-precious stones, watered steel curved blade, the back-edge with a cusped reinforcing strip.

Note: The khanjar is said to have originated in the central Middle East among Turkic warriors and spread with the Mughal Empire to India. Such daggers were largely produced for the Mughal court in Jaipur with a particular predilection for the use of gem-inlaid white jade hilts. Such jewelled daggers were bequeathed by the Mughal Emperor to his courtiers as artistic status symbols. An example of this is visible in the seventeenth century Mughal Padshahnama (inv.no. RCIN 1005025.al), in the Royal Collection, depicting dignitaries of Shah Jahan’s court all armed with ornate weaponry.

The use of ornate floral lotus motifs upon the hilt was a design initiated under the auspices of the seventeenth century Emperor Shah Jahan and was an artistic norm by the beginning of the eighteenth century (Elgood 2015, p.38). The hilts were set with gemstones and then inlaid using the indigenous kundan technique. The particular nephrite jade used in such daggers was primarily found near the Kunlun mountains in China’s Xinjiang province and its wider Asiatic trade began with the fourteenth century Turco-Mongol Timurid dynasty, from which the Indian Mughals claimed descent. Such a coveting of jade, therefore, sought to reflect Mughal aspirations as the genealogical successors to the Mongol dynasty.

Lot 178. A Mughal jade-hilted dagger (khanjar), India, 17th-18th century; 31cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the jade hilt of pistol grip form, the pommel decorated in low relief with a lotus flower, the curved blade with a calligraphic cartouche at the forte.

Lot 179. A Mughal jade-hilted dagger (kard), India, 18th century; 33cm. Estimate 7,000 — 1.,000 GBP. Lot sold 8,750 GBP (10,145 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the jade hilt decorated in low relief foliage rising to a lobed pommel, single-edged blade of watered steel.

Lot 180. A Mughal gem-set jade-hilted dagger (khanjar), India, late 18th century; 33cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the jade hilt of pistol grip form decorated in low relief with lotus flowers and foliage on each face rising to a lobed pommel, each side with two semi-precious stones, curved blade with a medial ridge.

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World including Fine Rugs and Carpets, London, 01 May 2019, 10:30 AM

Posté par Alain Truong à 20:56 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Tags: 19th century, candlestick, Mughal, Khanjar, Kard, carved Jade, North India, Haldili, circa 18th century, carved jade bowl, calligraphic jade pendant

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