{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128486"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128486/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JH2858/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JH2858/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JH2858","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O128486/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128486","accessionNumber":"1627 to A-1852","objectType":"Pen box and cover","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This box was shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at London's Crystal Palace and described then as 'modern' work from Lahore. The quality of the workmanship is reminiscent of objects produced during the Mughal empire in the 17th and 18th centuries, and employs the same techniques that would have been passed down from those craftsmen. Nephrite jade is a hard and durable material that requires time and patience to work, especially when fashioning larger objects from a single block. Furthermore, the external surfaces have been carved and engraved to produce cavities and channels into which gems and gold have been inlaid. Even today, using modern tools and abrasives, such work would take a skilled craftsman many hours to complete. Additionally, even though nephrite is a tough material, it becomes susceptible to damage from impacts or large and rapid changes in temperature when it has been worked to a fine thickness. Other than being an exercise in displaying the craftsmen's skills, such a object would only have been made for the most wealthy and important people.","physicalDescription":"A rectangular octagonal box, fashioned to a high standard in brownish green nephrite jade, inlaid with gold and set with rubies and emeralds in reflective, closed-back and possibly coloured settings.\r\nThe box's body has been fashioned from a single piece of nephrite and the interior is smooth and well polished. The rim has a raised inner ring designed to enable the cover to be located and secured onto the box. The highly polished exterior walls have been carved and recessed then set with gold wire, 152 rubies and 48 emeralds in flower and foliage designs within fine, inlaid, rectangular borders of gold wire. Each edge between the sides is further decorated with two inlaid gold trefoils. The base is flat, smooth and polished.\r\nThe cover's body has been fashioned from a single piece of nephrite and is domed and highly polished on all surfaces. There is a central, attached round finial, which is somewhat wobbly and it is inset with six pear-shaped ruby cabochons around the sides and with one round ruby cabochon in the top. It sits within an octagonal panel with gold borders which in turn is surrounded by eight further panels. All panels have been inlaid with gold wire and set with a total of 136 rubies and 40 emeralds, in a flower and foliage design.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"nephrite","id":"AAT11120"},{"text":"ruby","id":"AAT11082"},{"text":"emerald","id":"AAT11074"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"emerald","id":"AAT11074"},{"text":"ruby","id":"AAT11082"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Nephrite jade, ruby, emerald and gold. Fashioned using a variety of techniques.","categories":[{"text":"Containers","id":"THES48972"},{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"},{"text":"Great Exhibition","id":"THES48945"},{"text":"Hardstone","id":"THES270137"},{"text":"Writing","id":"THES261995"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mughal","id":"AAT18939"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2016JH2858"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES394764"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"005","id":"THES394764"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Box","id":""}],[{"text":"Cover","id":"x47856"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Lahore","id":"x30874"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1899-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"149.0","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627-1852","note":"External length, of the box, excluding settings or stones"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"112.0","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627-1852","note":"External width of the box, excluding settings or stones"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"31.10 to 31.55","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627-1852","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"27.5","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627-1852","note":"Depth from the rim, at the centre"},{"dimension":"Thickness","value":"4.2","unit":"mm","qualifier":"+/- 0.1","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627-1852","note":"Thickness of the wall, excluding settings or stones"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"149.0","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627A-1852","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"112.2","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627A-1852","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"37.7","unit":"mm","qualifier":"+/- 1.0","date":{"text":"24/08/2015","earliest":"2015-08-24","latest":"2015-08-24"},"part":"1627A-1852","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This box and cover was bought for £42 from the Great Exhibition of 1851 as 'modern' and as having been made in Lahore.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Rectangular octagonal box and cover, brownish green nephrite jade, inset gold, rubies and emeralds, Lahore, 19th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Catalogue of the objects of Indian art exhibited in the South Kensington Museum / by H.H. Cole. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode and sold by Chapman & Hall, 1874","id":"AUTH341568"},"details":"p. 126","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"The art of India and Pakistan, a commemorative catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1947-8. Edited by Sir Leigh Ashton. London: Faber and Faber, [1950]","id":"AUTH343744"},"details":"p. 229, cat. no. 1171","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["1627-1852","1627A-1852"],"accessionNumberNum":"1627","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1852,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Lid","Box"],"assets":["2017JW5295"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-11","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-11","availableToBook":true}}