Skip to main content
Lot 282

An Indo-Portuguese mother-of-pearl Dish
Gujarat, 17th Century

Withdrawn
Amended
23 April 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

£3,000 - £4,000

Ask about this lot

An Indo-Portuguese mother-of-pearl Dish
Gujarat, 17th Century

of rounded form, made of pinned sections of mother-of-pearl forming a central flower with an outer band of regular panels and a sloping border with larger panels and pointed edges, reverse with two brass bands, restorations
20.2 cm. diam.

Footnotes

A number of similar small dishes in this technique are known. Two comparable examples are in a private collection (The Heritage of Rauluchnatim, Exhibition Catalogue, Lisbon, 1996, nos.13 and 14, pp.202-3).

Given the western shape of these dishes, they were initially thought to be European by art historians in the 19th Century. Gujarati dishes of this design are known to have been imported to Europe from as early as the second quarter of the 16th Century, based on a documented example in the Green Vaults in Dresden. The commissioning of Gujarati mother-of-pearl wares is particularly associated with the Portuguese in India. In some cases, these dishes are known to have accompanied larger mother-of-pearl ewers, as illustrated by two examples presently in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv.no. 4282-1857 and 4283-1857). For a discussion on these garnitures of Gujarati mother-of-pearl articles, see A. Jaffer, Luxury Goods From India: the art of the Indian Cabinet-Maker, London : V&A, 2002, pp.38-39.

Similar dishes were sold at Christie's, King Street London, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 7 April 2011, lot 255; 31 March 2009, lot 212; and 7th October 2008, lot 264.

Saleroom notices

This lot has been withdrawn.

Additional information