A vase and cover, round with carved channels, rock crystal, inset gold and rubies, Mughal empire, 18th century

A vase and cover, fashioned to a very high standard in rock crystal and polished all over.
The circular vase rises from a round, narrow, concave-recessed foot and widens gradually to within approximately 75% of the overall height before narrowing more rapidly to the very short neck. The exterior is decorated with vertical, carved and polished channels with rounded ends, thus giving a scalloped pattern around the body. This has been accentuated, both top and bottom, with inset gold wire. There are two opposing, integral, solid handles that have been carved in relief with a ribbed, leaf-like design and there is a ruby set in gold on the top of each.
The cover is domed with an integral finial handle that has been set in the top with a ruby in a gold setting. There are two circular, wavy bands of gold wire set into the upper surface. There is a raised inner ring to the rim, for locating the cover onto the neck of the vase.

W. H. Cope Bequest

The vase and cover were made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century.
It was formerly in the collection of Col. Charles Seton Guthire and was later bought by Mr. W. H. Cope, who valued it at £125-0-0.
William Henry Cope Esq was considered an authority on ancient ecclesiastical stained glass and on old Plymouth china. He was also an important collector of china, jade and old Venetian and German glass, acquiring many of his pieces from sales of well-known collections such as the Beckford, the Bernal, the Guthrie, the Magniac and the Wells. He bequeathed his collections to The Victoria and Albert Museum in 1903.

This vase and cover, made within the Mughal empire in the 18th century, have each been carved from a single crystal of fine quality, clear, colourless quartz. Rock crystal is a hard and durable material which requires patience and skill to fashion objects of this quality, especially when using rudimentary equipment such as bow-driven lathes and wheels. The channels housing the gold wire and rubies would have been cut by hand or by offering up the surface to an abrasive-charged point that was being rotated on a lathe. It was in the renowned collection of Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie before 1868, and later acquired by another famous collector, W. H. Cope, who bequeathed it to the V&A in 1903.

715&A-1903