AN EXTREMELY RARE & IMPRESSIVE LARGE MUGHAL CARVED GREEN JADE PENDENT, CIRCA 16TH/17TH CENTURY. The panel originally alid , 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 oneach side by a poppy, the bevelled edge carved with a chevron design.----------Literature: Cf: Ekaterina Shcherbina, India: JewelsThat Enchanted the World, London, 2014, pg. 196, 197 for similar examples of carved Mughal emeralds, pg. 272, 286-293, 308 forsimilar examples of carved Mughal emeralds set by Western designers, mainly Cartier.---------MUGHAL SPLENDOURDR. USHA RBALAKRISHNANIn Islam, green is the colour of Paradise. Flowers, and Holy verses were carved on emeralds to enhance thepowerful magical properties believed to be embedded in the stone. Hence, the green emerald, together with the floral motifs are adirect reference to Paradise, assuring the wearer of the amulet good health, long life, and entry into Paradise. The flowers appear toemerge from the depths of the emerald, restrained yet with naturalistic perfection.The deep green Colombian gem undoubtedlyarrived as a rough in Goa, the Portuguese entrêpot on the western coast of India sometime in the seventeenth century. Retaining thenatural hexagonal shape in which emeralds are formed, the lapidary has shaped the rough into an amulet, and carved it with floralmotifs. The gem would have been simply strung and tied around the upper arm as a bazuband (armband), or worn as pendant on astring of pearls.The three flowers are perfectly arranged on the surface of the emerald like compositions on a canvas or a manuscriptpage. 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 flowerstudies, the folios of the album bearing his name assembled by Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan during the 1630s arereplete with flower paintings. The lily, poppy, narcissus, chrysanthemums and a variety of other flowering plants can be seen inprofusion in the pietra dura decoration on the Taj Mahal. The intense velvet green colour, and the translucent beauty of thegemstone, its impressive weight, and the exquisite carving all combine to suggest an imperial provenance. The sophisticatedelegance, and soft beauty of the floral motifs, and the perfectly executed carving are hallmarks of Mughal aesthetics, and of lapidaryskills of craftsmen who worked in ateliers located predominantly in Goa in the Deccan, and in Agra and Banaras.

Extremely Fine Quality