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A LARGE MUGHAL CARVED GREEN JADE PENDENT 17TH CENTURY

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:8,000.00 - 12,000.00 USD
A LARGE MUGHAL CARVED GREEN JADE PENDENT 17TH CENTURY
AN EXTREMELY RARE & IMPRESSIVE LARGE MUGHAL CARVED GREEN JADE PENDENT, CIRCA 16TH/17TH CENTURY. The panel originally a
lid , the elegant decoration with a large floral spray rising from a tied tuft of leaves. the front carved with a lily in the centre, flanked on
each side by a poppy, the bevelled edge carved with a chevron design.----------Literature: Cf: Ekaterina Shcherbina, India: Jewels
That Enchanted the World, London, 2014, pg. 196, 197 for similar examples of carved Mughal emeralds, pg. 272, 286-293, 308 for
similar examples of carved Mughal emeralds set by Western designers, mainly Cartier.---------MUGHAL SPLENDOURDR. USHA R
BALAKRISHNANIn Islam, green is the colour of Paradise. Flowers, and Holy verses were carved on emeralds to enhance the
powerful magical properties believed to be embedded in the stone. Hence, the green emerald, together with the floral motifs are a
direct reference to Paradise, assuring the wearer of the amulet good health, long life, and entry into Paradise. The flowers appear to
emerge from the depths of the emerald, restrained yet with naturalistic perfection.The deep green Colombian gem undoubtedly
arrived as a rough in Goa, the Portuguese entrêpot on the western coast of India sometime in the seventeenth century. Retaining the
natural hexagonal shape in which emeralds are formed, the lapidary has shaped the rough into an amulet, and carved it with floral
motifs. The gem would have been simply strung and tied around the upper arm as a bazuband (armband), or worn as pendant on a
string of pearls.The three flowers are perfectly arranged on the surface of the emerald like compositions on a canvas or a manuscript
page. Floral imagery became a dynastic leitmotif in the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan conspicuous in paintings, textiles,
carpets, architecture, and jewellery and gemstones. Jahangir's court artist Mansur was commissioned to paint beautiful flower
studies, the folios of the album bearing his name assembled by Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan during the 1630s are
replete with flower paintings. The lily, poppy, narcissus, chrysanthemums and a variety of other flowering plants can be seen in
profusion in the pietra dura decoration on the Taj Mahal. The intense velvet green colour, and the translucent beauty of the
gemstone, its impressive weight, and the exquisite carving all combine to suggest an imperial provenance. The sophisticated
elegance, and soft beauty of the floral motifs, and the perfectly executed carving are hallmarks of Mughal aesthetics, and of lapidary
skills of craftsmen who worked in ateliers located predominantly in Goa in the Deccan, and in Agra and Banaras.