HYDERABAD, DECCAN, 18TH CENTURY

Details

AN INDIAN DIAMOND AND SPINEL INSET GOLD ARMBAND (BAZUBAND)
HYDERABAD, DECCAN, 18TH CENTURY
With large central rectangular panel linked to triangular smaller panels at each side, the central panel with a large central inset flat-cut octagonal spinel within an openwork border of diamond drops, each end panel with openwork similar floral sprays, the reverse with central light blue panel of floral enamelling, flanked by similar floral sprays on a white ground, attachment loop at each end, later cord
5in. (12.6cm.) long

Provenance

Purchased by the present owner circa 1975 from a direct descendant of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

A very similar pair of armbands, both in terms of the inset face and the enamelling on the reverse, is in the Virginia Musum of Fine Arts. Despite the strongly Shi'a inscriptions on the central stones, they are attributed to Jaipur in the catalogue, principally on the basis of the similarities of the enamelling to the designs published by Hendley as being from Jaipur in 1906. (Joseph M. Dye III, The Arts of India, Virginia, 2001, no.201, p.428). Here, apart from the provenance which strongly indicates Hyderabad as the origin, there are many examples of enamelling that are very similar indeed in the former collection of the Nizams of Hyderabad that clearly confirm the attribution (for example Usha R. Bala Krishnan, Jewels of the Nizams, New Delhi 2001, pp.174 and 178).

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