Mango-shaped container, rock crystal, inlaid with gold and rubies
India, Mughal; 17th century
H: 6 cm
Inventory number 35/1980
The princes of the Mughal dynasty had a predilection for semi-precious stones like jade and rock crystal, and their artists achieved a very high degree of perfection in carving objects such as dagger hilts, bowls, and rings from these materials. Grooves cut into the materials could then be inlaid with gemstones and gold.
We do not know whether this container, which was carved from a single piece, was intended to hold perfume or perhaps the lime that is used in chewing betel.
Its stopper is missing, but it might have been made of enameled gold, like the stopper on a similar container in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
We do not know whether this container, which was carved from a single piece, was intended to hold perfume or perhaps the lime that is used in chewing betel.
Its stopper is missing, but it might have been made of enameled gold, like the stopper on a similar container in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Published in
Published in
Spink & Son: Islamic art from India, London 1980, cat.no. 39, pp. 22 and 28;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 263;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 347;
Jessica Hallett, Conceicao Amaral (eds.): Cultures of the Indian Ocean, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lissabon 1998, cat.no. 104, p. 301;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 370;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 96;
Kjeld von Folsach: Islamic art. The David Collection, Copenhagen 1990, cat.no. 263;
Kjeld von Folsach, Torben Lundbæk and Peder Mortensen (eds.): Sultan, Shah and Great Mughal: the history and culture of the Islamic world, The National Museum, Copenhagen 1996, cat.no. 347;
Jessica Hallett, Conceicao Amaral (eds.): Cultures of the Indian Ocean, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lissabon 1998, cat.no. 104, p. 301;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat.no. 370;
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom (eds.): Cosmophilia. Islamic Art from the David Collection, Copenhagen, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Boston 2006, cat.no. 96;
