A rare and important Mughal jade drinking cup bearing the royal coat-of-arms of Navarre and France, India, 16th-17th century, and a later carved agate bowl, the gilt-bronze mounts probably English and by Benjamin Vulliamy, early-19th century

the cup of boat form, the nephrite jade of pale green colour inlaid with an arabesque of gold interlacing tendrils issuing flowerheads and palmettes and a flying bird, set with coloured glass with claw-settings, quatrefoils on either side enclosing the arms of Navarre and France, the interior with further gold-inlaid stem set with coloured glass, mounted on a gilt-bronze stand cast in the form a wyvern with back-stretched wings resting on a rocky mound supported on a verde antico rectangular base; together with an agate cup of oval form cut with a narrow tapering footring also supported by a gilt-bronze wyvern on a mottled peach, grey and white marble rectangular base

By repute, William Beckford (1760-1844).

Acquired by Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879).
Recorded in the division of property made after Baron Lionel de Rothschild's death (now in The Rothschild Archive) as going to Alfred de Rothschild: Anon., Division of the property of the late Baron Lionel de Rothschild between Sir Nathaniel de Rothschild, Leopold de Rothschild, Esq. and Alfred de Rothschild, Esq., 1882, RAL 000/176/3.

By descent to Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918).
Illustrated and described in the catalogue of Alfred de Rothschild's collects ions: Davis, Charles, Catalogue of the collects ions of Alfred de Rothschild, Vol.I, 'Pictures', Vol. II, 'Works of art', London, 1884, RAL 000/848.

By descent to Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942).

By descent to Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009).

the jade cup detached from mount with some losses to inlay-work including some paste settings, some losses to gold inlay concentrated around the base at point of contact with bronze mount; the agate cup with rim breaks and associated repair and small chips to extremities, mount loose on marble base, evidence of later re-glueing of bronze mounts, mercury gilding with some surface deposits, as viewed
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Only two comparable jade bowls are known to exist, one is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Melikian-Chirvani 1992, p.88, fig.34) and the other in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Lisbon 2002, p.146, no. 44). The wine-boat in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, incorrectly catalogued as a Turkish drinking vessel, was recorded in the Inventory of the Wiener Schatzkammer in 1750. The exact origin of these two bowls has been disputed. There have been suggestions that they were carved in Iran or possibly China and later inlaid and set in India, but it is now believed that they were both carved and mounted in India.

There is a tradition in the subcontinent for working hardstones that dates back to the earliest t.mes s. During the Roman period Cambay in Western India was a centre for exporting agate vessels and other objects to the West. The use of jade however only became evident during the Mughal period, reaching its peak during the seventeenth century under the patronage of Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Abu'l Fazl records that the Emperor Akbar received a merchant at court by the name of Khwaja Mu'in who had the right to the jade stores in the bed of the river Kashgar. Nephrite jade was primarily found in the rivers of the Kunlun mountains near Khotan and Kashgar in China's Xinjiang province, an area that came under Timurid control in the late fourteenth century. 

Emperor Jahangir (r.1605-27), who was keen to emulate his Timurid ancestors, owned several Timurid artefacts including a number of jade vessels that formed part of the emperor's personal collects ion. Jahangir had some of his prized vessels inscribed with his signature, including a jug in the British Museum dated 1624 and a white nephrite jade jug in the Gulbenkian Foundation, inscribed to Ulugh Beg with subsequent inscriptions recording its possession by Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Jahangir not only collects ed jades but also commissioned them. The jades produced under Jahangir's patronage were heavily influenced by earlier Timurid forms that were derived from ceramic and metalwork sources. William Hawkins a merchant who was invited to Jahangir's court gives an account of the treasures he encountered 'drinking cuppes five hundred, but fiftie very rich, that is to say, made of one piece of ballace ruby [spinel], and also of emerods [emeralds], of eshim [yashm: Persian for jade]... and of other sorts of stones.' Hawkins also lists the presence of a large amount of uncut stone, including 55llb of uncut jade (Stronge 1994, p.7).

The concept of the wine-bowl is an ancient one that has its origins in the pre-Islamic past where wine was often equated with the sun. This celestial symbolism continued into the Sasanian period and later appeared in Persian literature and poetry. As seen in the words of the eighth-century poet Abu Nuwas "Of nectar someone on seeing it said to me:/ The sun has been trapped for us in a wine bowl" (Melikian-Chirvani 1992, p.13).  The origins of the boat-shaped form is discussed in detail by Dr A. S. Melikian-Chirvani (Ibid. pp. 3-111). What is interesting is that unlike the examples in the Taipei National Museum and Kunsthistoriches Museum, the present jade bowl is footless, indicating either that its contents were intended to be consumed before it was put down, or that it was designed to be passed around during a courtly gathering (bazm), or that it was held at all t.mes s either by the owner or by a manservant indicating the elevated status of the former. Jahangir often hosted bazm and was particularly fond of drinking and entertaining: 'I held a meeting in one of the houses of the palace of Nur-Jahan Begum... I ordered them to give the people cups and all kind of intoxicating drinks according to the desire of each... I ordered that whoever drank a cup should sit according to his mansab [rank] and condition... A grand entertainment took place, and the drinkers of cups took more cups that they could carry. (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, vol 1, p.385, see S. Markel, Fit for an Emperor: Inscribed Works of Decorative Art Acquired by the Great Mughals, p.27).

During the seventeenth century jade objects were often inlaid with gold and set with gems in the manner seen on the present cup. This is recorded by the traveller Jean de Thevenot who describes gold and gem inlaying at Agra (see India in the Seventeenth Century, Vol II, 'The Voyages of Thevenot and Careri', ed. J.P. Guha, New Delhi 1979) . The French physician François Bernier mentions jade cups inlaid with gold and set with stones in a letter written in 1665: 'The jade stone presented upon this occasion was of an extraordinary size and therefore very precious. Jachen (yashm) is in great estimation in the court of the Mogol: its colour is greenish, with white veins, and it is so hard as to wrought only with diamond powder. Cups and vases are made of this stone. I have some of most exquisite workmanship, inlaid with strings of gold and enriched with precious stones'  (Travels in the Mogul Empire AD1656-1668. ed. by. A.Constable, London, 1891 pp.422-3).

During Shah Jahan's reign (1628-58) a more naturalistic and decorative vocabulary evolved.The floral arabesque was a particularly favoured decorative device. Nowhere is this more visible than in the adornment of architecture. There are very strong parallels between the decoration seen on imperial buildings and on hardstone objects. The floral scroll decorating the interior dome of the Tomb of Akbar at Sikandra (1613) and the Tomb of Itimad ad-Daula (1626-28) is broadly similar in stylization to the gold inlaid arabesque seen on the present jade cup. By the second quarter of the seventeenth century jade carving had reached its height as displayed in the quality of the Shah Jahan wine-cup now in the V&A (inv. no.IS 12-1962). Inscribed and dated 1657, not only is the cup exquisitely worked, it also represents the diverse cultural sources that were present in the Mughal court during the seventeenth century (see Robert Skelton 1966 for a further discussion of this). Like the Shah Jahan cup the design and decoration of the present cup is a synthesis of Persian, Indian and European elements. During the seventeenth century a number of European lapidaries were employed in the Mughal court. Including the French goldsmith Augustin of Bordeaux who made a golden throne for Itimad ad-Daula to present to Jahangir at Nowruz in 1619; and the Portuguese jewellery designer Lorenço Mendes 'was many years in the King's service, drawing the models of jewels which he (the King) ordered to be made, the goldsmiths then applying the enamel and the precious stones.' (Jesuit missionary Father Botelho, Goa and the Great Mughal, Lisbon 2004, p.145).

The two recorded bowls, in Vienna and Taipei, and the present cup possess distinctive foliate-shaped settings. Instead of being set in the usual kundan technique the gems are discreetly set with claws chiselled in the form of petals and leaves. This is a European technique rarely seen in India during this period. The Museo Nacional Soares dos Reis, Oporto, has a seventeenth-century reliquary-cross and pair of cruets that display the same settings. This altar set once in the Portuguese monastery of Alcobaça was probably made by imperial jewellers as an ambassadorial gift for the Portuguese in Goa (Lisbon 2004, p.164).  The "Clive bottle" (formerly in the V&A, see The Indian Heritage, 1982, p. 154, no.13) of pale nephrite jade set with rubies and emeralds shares the same delicately chiselled claw-settings.

It is highly probable that the present jade cup was designed and made with a European beneficiary in mind and possibly exported as a diplomatic gift. The fulcrum of this hypothesis is the inclusion in the surface decoration of the arms of Navarre and France which feature prominently in the quatrefoil cartouches on each side of the vessel. In 1572 Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France and thereafter the Crown of Navarre passed to the King of France. From 1600 through to 1830 the French Kings continued to use the title of the King of Navarre and the combined arms of Navarre and France. A member of the Navarre family, Prince Jean Phillipe de Bourbon, had visited Akbar's court as early as 1560. Prince Jean Phillipe was the son of a duke who was the cousin of King Henry IV of France. The connection between the Mughals and the Bourbons goes further: one of the Emperor Akbar's many wives was an Armenian called Mariam Zamani Begum whose sister Lady Juliana went on to marry Jean Phillipe. Jean Phillipe's descendants are believed to be the Bourbons of Bhopal who served as administrators of the region up until Independence in 1947 (Maud Diver, Royal India, a descriptive and historical study of India's fifteen principal states and their rulers, 1971).  The circumstances of the commissioning of this object in Mughal India, and its subsequent passage to Europe where it passed through the hands of two of the greatest collects ors/collects ions of antique hardstones, William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (by repute) and the Rothschild family, remains a tantalising subject for further research.