{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O18998"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18998/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KE2721/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KE2721/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KE2721","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2722","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2724","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2725","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2726","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE2723","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O18998/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O18998","accessionNumber":"03226(IS)","objectType":"Ring","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The seal in this Indian ring is made of an emerald of high quality which probably came from Colombia. It is inscribed (in reverse calligraphy) with a Persian verse from the Golestan, or Rose Garden, of the Iranian poet Sa'di, and translates \"O Nightingale bring us the tidings of Spring\". It is therefore obviously linked with  the Iranian Nowruz, or New Year, which takes place on the first day of Spring. It may have been a seal used for marking a Nowruz gift, or have been a gift made to mark an important event such as a birth which took place at Nowruz.\r\nIt is set in a gold collet held in a ring made of six cobras whose bodies enclose the emerald, and form the hoop of the ring, and thus intriguingly combines a style familiar from South Indian traditions with the emerald seal which seems to be Iranian. Both are probably 18th century in date. The ring was formerly in the Indian Museum and was transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879.","physicalDescription":"Rectangular, chamfered emerald, engraved with a Persian verse on the front and step-cut at the back. The emerald is in a gold setting of chased goldwith six cobra heads, three at each side of the emerald. Their bodies form the hoop of the ring","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"emerald","id":"AAT11074"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gold and emerald","categories":[{"text":"ELISE","id":"THES48961"},{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"India Museum","id":"THES286062"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2017KE2721","2017KE2722","2017KE2724","2017KE2725","2017KE2726","2017KE2723"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES394692"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Seal ring","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"India","id":"x29790"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"south, ring"},{"place":{"text":"Iran","id":"x30220"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"seal"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"18th century","earliest":"1700-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"0.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"seal","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"seal","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"bolbola mozhde-ye bahar biyar","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"O Nightingale bring us the tidings of Spring","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"This is the first part of a distich that continues khabar-e bad be bum baz gozar, \"Return the bad news to the owl\" (Dr Kh. Khatib Rahbar (ed), Gulestan, Tehran, n.d., 1357s/1978 ?, chapter 8, 25, p. 534. Inscription read by A.S. Melikian-Chirvani."}],"objectHistory":"The stone is probably Colombian.","historicalContext":"Formerly in the collections of the Indian Museum.","briefDescription":"Ring, emerald and gold, 18th century, South India and Iran.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Susan Stronge, Nima Smith, and J.C. Harle. <u>A Golden Treasury : Jewellery from the Indian Subcontinent</u> London : Victoria and Albert Museum in association with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 1988. ISBN: 0944142168","id":"AUTH325355"},"details":"p.95","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Swallow, D., Stronge, S., Crill, R., Koezuka, T., editor and translator, \"The Art of the Indian Courts. Miniature Painting and Decorative Arts\", Victoria & Albert Museum and NHK Kinki Media Plan, 1993.","id":"AUTH346698"},"details":"p. 155, cat no. 140","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["03226(IS)"],"accessionNumberNum":"03226","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-13","recordCreationDate":"2000-01-06","availableToBook":false}}