Mughal Finely Carved Pale Green Jade Segmented Box & Cover

This splendid light-green nephrite jade, quatrefoil, segmented box and cover is shaped as a four-petal flower. The walls are thin and delicate. It has been carved so that inside, it has four compartments. The exterior, on the cover and on the base, has been carved with Mughal flower motifs. Each petal lobe has been carved with a lily flower with leaves on each side. The base has been carved with a central flower motif and more lily motifs.  The cover has a bud-like finial. The base is flat.

Related Mughal jade boxes in the Taipei’s National Palace Museum are illustrated in Teng (2012, pp. 109-111).

It is believed that most of these items were given by the Mughal court to local Islamic rulers in Central Asia and elsewhere and from there, were sent as tribute to the Chinese court during the reign of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735 to 1796). This lead to a fashion among ruling circles in China for Mughal jades and it is likely that other examples were sent directly from India to China.

Examples are in various museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum. Other related examples occasionally are offered by Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams.

Most surviving Indian jade carvings belong to the Mughal period (1526-1858). Emperor Akbar and his successors were especially fond of jade which was fashioned by highly skilled artisans into boxes, bowls, cups, dagger hilts and so on. The jade (nephrite) was sourced from Khotan in Central Asia.

The jade walls of the example here have been cut so that they are remarkably thin and fine.

The fineness of better examples of Mughal jade items inevitably means that many, including examples in museums, have small chips and losses, and so it is with this example. There is a small chip to the edge of the cover. This has been filled with a clear resin and is stable.