Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Indian art by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield (published Oxford, 1987).

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

Publications online: 143 objects

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Jade mirror-back

  • Literature notes

    Although the art of hardstone carving had been practiced in India from an early period, it reached a peak of artistic and technical achievement under the Mughal emperors. Jade in particular had long been prized by their Central Asian forebears for its qualities of hardness, translucency, and delicacy of colouring, and the emperor Jahāngir is known to have possessed several Timurid pieces. In the reign of Shāh Jahān, a lover of precious stones and of icily perfect marmoreal architecture as embodied in the Tāj Mahal, many of the finest Mughal jades were carved. These often display the characteristic floral ornament of the period in low relief. In other objects, such as boxes, huqqa bases and dagger hilts, the jade surfaces were opulently patterned with small pieces of ruby, emerald and semi-precious stones inset in gold surrounds.

    This mirror-back was made towards the end of the Mughal period, when the craftsmen were repeating the designs of the two previous centuries with diminishing virtuosity. It follows the rectangular shape of European mirrors which were imported in great numbers from the 17th century (Indian mirrors were traditionally round or oval). The intricate openwork carving of multiple branching flowers emanating from a central stem is in effect a miniature version of the pierced stonework jālī panels found in the window apertures and balustrades of the old Mughal palaces.
  • Description

    The art of hardstone carving reached new heights under the Mughals. Like their Central Asian ancestors they prized jade especially, for its hardness, translucency and delicacy of colour. The pierced carving of this rectangular mirror-back resembles the elaborate stone jali panels seen in Mughal palaces and tombs.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndianorth IndiaNational Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi (place of creation)
    Date
    early 19th century
    Mughal Period (1526 - 1858)
    Material and technique
    pale-green jade, with carved decoration, inset with precious stones
    Dimensions
    23.7 x 21 x 0.6 cm (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    inorganicstonegemstone jade,
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Accession no.
    EAX.2327
  • Further reading

    Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 101 on p. 90, illus. p. 90

Location

    • First floor | Room 33 | Mughal India

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Publications online

  • Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

    Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

    Although the art of hardstone carving had been practiced in India from an early period, it reached a peak of artistic and technical achievement under the Mughal emperors. Jade in particular had long been prized by their Central Asian forebears for its qualities of hardness, translucency, and delicacy of colouring, and the emperor Jahāngir is known to have possessed several Timurid pieces. In the reign of Shāh Jahān, a lover of precious stones and of icily perfect marmoreal architecture as embodied in the Tāj Mahal, many of the finest Mughal jades were carved. These often display the characteristic floral ornament of the period in low relief. In other objects, such as boxes, huqqa bases and dagger hilts, the jade surfaces were opulently patterned with small pieces of ruby, emerald and semi-precious stones inset in gold surrounds.

    This mirror-back was made towards the end of the Mughal period, when the craftsmen were repeating the designs of the two previous centuries with diminishing virtuosity. It follows the rectangular shape of European mirrors which were imported in great numbers from the 17th century (Indian mirrors were traditionally round or oval). The intricate openwork carving of multiple branching flowers emanating from a central stem is in effect a miniature version of the pierced stonework jālī panels found in the window apertures and balustrades of the old Mughal palaces.
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