A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN
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A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN
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A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN

INDO-PORTUGUESE, GUJARAT, 17TH CENTURY

Details
A MOTHER-OF-PEARL EWER AND BASIN
INDO-PORTUGUESE, GUJARAT, 17TH CENTURY
the basin associated
13 in. (33 cm.) high, the ewer
14 in. (35.5 cm.) diam., the basin
Provenance
The Collection of the Rothschild family.
By descent to the present owners.
Literature
C. de Nicolay-Mazery, Private Houses of France. Living with History, Paris, 2014, p. 294.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
A. Jaffer, Luxury Goods from India: the art of the Indian cabinet-maker, London, 2002, p. 39, no. 11

Lot Essay

Sets of ewers and basins in the Gujarat mother-of-pearl technique were made for both domestic use and export and are known to have been imported as luxury goods to European royal collections in the 16th century. These lustrous vessels and containers were made into combined Islamic and Western shapes. As preciously crafted items in such a highly coveted material in the courts of Europe, they were most often on display and seldomly used for dining.
The present ewer takes a surahi shape, with a long neck and bulbous body. While keeping with the indicative repetition of interlocking forms made from the individual mother-of-pearl pieces and traditional lotus flower pattern on the basin, this example includes an individualized intricacy seen in the variance between each layer radiating from the center of the basin and on each element and joint on the ewer. Adding individuality to the copious variety of petals, leaves, scallops and tiling, is the large scale of the fluted pieces comprising the ewer’s central form. Surahi examples with similar sized mother-of-pearl include a 26.2 cm. high ewer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Inv. nr. Kunstkammer, 4099) and one sold at Christie’s, Paris on 7 December 2005 as lot 63 (370,000 Euros).

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