INDIA, LATE 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY

The elegant nasta`liq on this pendant is very similar to that on another haldili pendant sold at Christie’s, London, 10 April 2014, lot 130. That however was inscribed in Arabic, with the Throne Verse (Ayat al-Kursi) from the Qur’an, (sura II, al-baqara, v.256). The note to that lot gives an extensive discussion about the significance and use of jade at the Mughal Court, concentrating on the jades produced at Allahabad during Prince Salim’s period of rebellion against Akbar. A further very comparable jade pendant, also inscribed with Ayat al-Kursi, is now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (previously sold Sotheby’s, London, 18 October 2001, lot 150). That example bore the name of Shah Jahan, written neatly along the lower edge, and a date of AH 1041/1631-62 AD.
A number of jades inscribed for the Emperor Jahangir are known. Most of these take the form of wine cups – something that for Jahangir were favorite possessions and imperial attributes (Welch, 1985, p.195). One of these is in the Brooklyn Museum (dated AH 1016/1607-08). Another, at the Rhode Island School of Design, is dated AH 1021/1612-13 AD. An inkpot and opium cup are also known (dated AH 1028/1618-19 AD and AH 1026/1617-18 AD respectively) and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (all published Welch, op.cit., nos.122-126). The Christie’s pendant was the earliest of all, dated AH 1006/1597-8. While the present pendant bears the date of 1000/1591-2, this appears probably to be a later addition.
The design on the other side of this pendant is clearly European in influence, if not execution. The style is consistent with a 17th century dating.