A Touch of Mughal Magnificence
Lot 7875 is an antique Mughal gold and enamel bracelet, set with diamonds, emeralds, and natural and synthetic rubies. Dated to approximately 1880, this bracelet was purchased by its current owners from the Ganeshi Lall & Son Emporium in Agra, in 1956. In accompanying provenance, the bangle is documented as being acquired “from one of the families of ex-ruling Princes from Southern part of India.” It is an example of the exuberant, rich Mughal style. Crowned with enameled elephants with trunks intertwined, it is studded with gemstones and intricate enamel work.
Storied purveyors of Indian jewelry, Ganeshi Lall & Son was established in 1845. The company had stores in Agra, Calcutta, and Simla, a hill station where the British Raj went to escape the summer heat. In 1934 a Cairo store was established, directly across the street from the famous Shepheard’s Hotel. Hotel guests such as the Aga Khan, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie, and T.E. Lawrence, while relaxing on the patio, would undoubtedly notice the Ganeshi Lall & Son storefront opposite.
Patio of Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo, ca. 1940. Photo credit: Arts of Hindostan.
Travelers to the Taj Mahal in Agra also frequented the original Ganeshi Lall & Son emporium. Famous patrons included Prince Charles, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Prime Ministers Nehru and Indira Gandhi, and Mick Jagger. Queen Mary was evidently also a loyal customer, as the company continued to receive Royal Warrants appointed in her name in the 1960’s and 70’s. Ganeshi Lall & Son also supplied jewelry and art to institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
India has long been a center of jewelry and gemstones. The Golconda region has been mined for diamonds for over 2,500 years. Until the 17th century, Golconda was the only source of diamonds in the world. Traders from Europe and Asia transported the diamonds far and wide. Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) documented the Roman imperial demand for Indian diamonds.
The sophistication and opulence of the Mughal court was renowned. Descendents of Tamerlane, the rulers of the Mughal period (1526-1858) were great patrons of the arts and expressed their power and individuality through their jewelry. Mughal jewelers had access to the world’s finest known diamonds, and also imported rubies from Burma and emeralds and sapphires from Ceylon. Sir Thomas Roe (1580-1644), English ambassador to the Mughal court, wrote to Charles I of the emperor Jahangir, “In jewells (which is one of his felicityes) hee is the treasury of the world.” (Treasury of the World: Jeweled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002)
The Mughal emperors brought Persian and Asian influences to India, including the art of enameling, known as Meenakari. India had a long-established tradition of Kundan jewelry, which involves the setting of gemstones directly into molten gold foil. Kundan techniques had been present in India since the 3rd century BCE, but flourished in the Mughal courts. The two techniques combined to produce jewelry such as this bracelet, a beautiful example of Mughal style.
By Cynthia Beech Lawrence
