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Silver Wine or Opium Water Flask (Chuski)
North-West India
18th-19th century
height: 15.4cm
weight: 273g
This elegant silver chuski or wine or opium water flask has the classical shape of such flasks occasionally encountered in 18th century Indian miniature
paintings of courtly scenes. Such flasks were used to offer guests a small glass of local wine (araq) or opium water.
This example has a flared open-work foot, with a bulbous, chased body and a screw-in stopper surmounted by a small solid-cast parrot with another on the
thin reed-like spout and another on the handle. The stopper, the body and the base are chased with borders of acanthus leaves. The handle is cased with a
repeated floral pattern. Originally, a chain would have been attached to a small cap that covered the end of the spout.
Opium usage was common in northern India. It was a part of normal social interaction and for some, also an addiction. The Bodleian Library at Oxford, United
Kingdom, has in its extensive collection of Mughal miniature paintings one of the dying 'Inayat Khan, dated 1618. The painting shows the courtier to the
Mughal emperor Jahangir, laying on a bed and propped up against cushions. His body is wasted and shrivelled, his face sullen and his eyes blank: the
courtier is about to die, a result of opium and alcohol addiction. The Emperor was so appalled and fascinated by 'Inayat Khan's extreme condition that he
mentions it in his memoirs.
References: two similar silver chuski or flasks are illustrated in Terlinden, C., Mughal Silver Magnificence, Antalga, 1978, pp. 119-20; Topsfield, A., Indian
Paintings from Oxford Collections, University of Oxford, 1994.
Inventory no.: 458 SOLD
Silver Wine or Opium Water Flask (Chuski)
North-West India
18th-19th century
height: 15.4cm
weight: 273g
This elegant silver chuski or wine or opium water flask has the classical shape of such flasks occasionally encountered in 18th century Indian miniature
paintings of courtly scenes. Such flasks were used to offer guests a small glass of local wine (araq) or opium water.
This example has a flared open-work foot, with a bulbous, chased body and a screw-in stopper surmounted by a small solid-cast parrot with another on the
thin reed-like spout and another on the handle. The stopper, the body and the base are chased with borders of acanthus leaves. The handle is cased with a
repeated floral pattern. Originally, a chain would have been attached to a small cap that covered the end of the spout.
Opium usage was common in northern India. It was a part of normal social interaction and for some, also an addiction. The Bodleian Library at Oxford, United
Kingdom, has in its extensive collection of Mughal miniature paintings one of the dying 'Inayat Khan, dated 1618. The painting shows the courtier to the
Mughal emperor Jahangir, laying on a bed and propped up against cushions. His body is wasted and shrivelled, his face sullen and his eyes blank: the
courtier is about to die, a result of opium and alcohol addiction. The Emperor was so appalled and fascinated by 'Inayat Khan's extreme condition that he
mentions it in his memoirs.
References: two similar silver chuski or flasks are illustrated in Terlinden, C., Mughal Silver Magnificence, Antalga, 1978, pp. 119-20; Topsfield, A., Indian
Paintings from Oxford Collections, University of Oxford, 1994.
Inventory no.: 458 SOLD
