Large Maharaja’s Gold Walking Cane Hilt set with Diamonds, Rubies & Emeralds

This spectacular gold hilt or handle for a walking cane is set with dozens of rose-cut diamonds, rubies, and emeralds using the kundan technique.

Such a cane and gold handle would have been used for ceremonial occasions as an emblem of position and status by either a maharaja or a sultan or by a senior member of one of their families.

It is of tapering form with a rounded apex.

The diamonds are set in the gold in flowerhead patterns amid meandering ruby and emerald stems, which cover completely the shaft of the hilt and the apex, which itself is decorated with a diamond flower which is surrounded by alternating bands of rubies, diamonds and emeralds.

The gold used is thick and heavy. A wooden substrate is visible from the underside into which a walking cane could be screwed.

This item comprised lot 123 in Sotheby’s London ‘Arts of the Islamic World’, October 12, 2005. At the time, it was attached to a narwhal ivory shaft which might have been a later addition. The shaft is no longer present thus avoiding any CITES complications. The price achieved at Sotheby’s in 2005 was £8,400.

See lot 234, Christie’s ‘Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence, June 19, 2019, for a small gold pear-shaped flask, dating to a similar period as the cane top here and similarly decorated with diamonds, emeralds and rubies.

The hilt or top here is in excellent condition. It is large, sculptural, and able to stand upright unaided. It is a spectacular reminder of the wealthy and showy past of India’s traditional rulers.