Rock Crystal Cup & Cover

34

GEM-SET ROCK CRYSTAL CUP AND COVER

northern india, early 19th century

heiGht: 12 cm diameter: 7.2 cm

A carved, polished and gem-set rock crystal cup and cover, the cup of tall, elegant tumbler form with a circumference that widens gradually from the foot to the rim, the cover of gentle dome-shape surmounted by a bud-shaped knop finial. The cup and cover are inlaid with gold scrolling tendrils in the kundan technique and set with diamonds, rubies and emeralds within chased gold collets to form flowers, leaves and buds on arabesque vines of gold. The gold has worn on some of the flowers and vines to reveal the underlying silver. The technique used is thus shown to be silver-gilt, where the floral patterns applied in silver are gilded by embellishments of gold.

The body of the cup is decorated with a frieze of tall vertical floral sprays that fit the gradually widening shape of the rock crystal surface. At the base of each floral spray is a tiny wine cup set with a cabochon ruby from which the plant rises, thrusting upward and sprouting bifurcating branches that bear an ever greater abundance of leaves and flowers with increasing numbers of petals. A flower with a diamond centre set in an engraved collet that forms its simple ruffled petals, like a sunflower, is surmounted by a quatrefoil flower-head with a ruby centre and alternating diamond and emerald petals. Crowning the design is the largest and most elaborate flower with a ruby calyx, eight multicoloured gem-set petals, a central diamond set in an engraved and chased collet, and a nodding finial of a single petal worn like a sarpech. The frieze of tall floral sprays is framed to the top at the rim and the bottom at the foot of the cup by a band of scrolling vines bearing quatrefoil flower-heads with circular petals set with rubies. The ruby flowers alternate with single emerald green leaves set on a diagonal to impart an anti-clockwise flow to the pattern.

The base of the cup is carved in the form of a stylised flower with a hatched centre and overlapping petals. The Ford inventory no. 1-12 is painted on the base in black.

The cover or lid of the cup is decorated with closely related gem-set floral arabesques arranged in quadripartite formation. Four floral sprays, each rising from a tiny mound and widening to occupy a quarter of the surface of the cover, flank the central knop finial. As the flowers seem to open and blossom in ever increasing profusion, spiky unadorned gold tendrils give way to single buds and leaves, that yield in turn to trefoil then quatrefoil flowers to impart a luxuriant effect of dense growth. The finial is ornamented with a six-petalled flower-head, each gem-set petal floating detached from the central circular gold collet where gadrooning frames the diamond.

A gem-set rock crystal covered cup with similar decoration and carved with lobes is in the collection of the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore.

A gem-set rock crystal covered cup of closely related decoration