{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O452911"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O452911/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HT2683/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HT2683/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HT2683","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O452911/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O452911","accessionNumber":"02583(IS)","objectType":"Dagger hilt","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The dagger hilt was made of mottled green nephrite jade within the Mughal empire in the last decades of the 18th century. There is a groove carved into the cavity for the blade which extends along most of the length of the quillons, and there is also a hole drilled part way down the length of the handle. Most of the surface has been expertly inlaid with gold in an extensive and intricate flower and leaf design.\nIt was previously owned by the notable collector of Mughal jade and rock crystal objects, Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie who sold it with other objects from his collection to the Indian Museum in Leadenhall Street, London, in 1868. These were all transferred to the South Kensington Museum, later renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum, in 1879. \r\nThe inlaid gold design has close parallels with that on the hilt of a sword owned by Claude Martin (1735-1800), the renowned French resident of Lucknow in the late 18th century. The blade of the sword is dated to the equivalent of 1786-1787, and the hilt is likely to be of similar date. The exact place of manufacture of the hilt cannot be determined with certainty. Contemporary lapidaries almost certainly moved between the Mughal capital of Delhi and Lucknow, the capital of the province of Awadh, as did artists and other craftsmen. The hilt could have been made at either centre.","physicalDescription":"A dagger hilt with a pistol grip, fashioned in mottled, medium to deep green nephrite jade with scroll-shaped quillons. There is a groove carved into the blade end, which extends along most of the length of the quillons and there is also a hole drilled part way down the length of the handle. Most of the surface has been expertly inlaid with gold in an extensive and intricate flower and leaf design.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"nephrite","id":"AAT11120"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mottled green nephrite jade, gold. Fashioned using a variety of techniques.","categories":[{"text":"Arms & Armour","id":"THES48992"},{"text":"Gemstones","id":"THES270329"},{"text":"Hardstone","id":"THES270137"},{"text":"India Museum","id":"THES286062"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2015HT2683"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"034","id":"THES374475"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Dagger hilt","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mughal empire","id":"THES262021"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Probably made in workshops in Delhi or Lucknow"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1780-1790","earliest":"1775-01-01","latest":"1790-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"140","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-24","latest":"2016-02-24"},"part":"","note":"Overall length"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"57.5","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-24","latest":"2016-02-24"},"part":"","note":"The distance between the ends of the quillons"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"22.6","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-24","latest":"2016-02-24"},"part":"","note":"The distance between the sides of the quillons"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"23.25","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-24","latest":"2016-02-24"},"part":"","note":"The width of the pommel"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"25.75","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"24/02/2016","earliest":"2016-02-24","latest":"2016-02-24"},"part":"","note":"The depth of the hole down the hilt"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This dagger hilt was originally in the Guthrie collection and was purchased for the sum of £36-0-0, when he sold 81 of his objects to The India Museum in 1868. It was subsequently transferred to The South Kensington Museum (later renamed The Victoria & Albert Museum) in 1879.\r\n\r\nCharles Seton Guthrie was an important collector of eastern coins and Mughal Empire jade and rock crystal objects. He was the second son of Scottish parents, both of whom were from noble and landed families, and his father worked for the East India Company in Calcutta.\r\nGuthrie most probably developed his interest in jade and rock crystal when he studied geology as a 17 year old cadet in 1825 in Addiscombe, and he joined the Bengal Engineers in 1828.\r\nThrough his family’s established connection with the Inglis and Lister families, he became acquainted with Harry Inglis and his Anglo-Indian wife Sophia (nee Lister). He may well have received gifts of objects that Harry had acquired as proceeds from his Indian military campaigns. Harry was the son and heir of George Inglis who owned Inglis & Co., a large Indian trading company.\r\nDuring his time in India, Charles Guthrie enhanced his collections with acquisitions financed by his army pay and also income from properties in his late mother’s estate.\r\nHe subsequently retired at the honorary rank of Colonel in 1857, although he returned to England in 1855, at the same time as Harry and Sophia, due to having 2 years of accumulated leave.\r\nFollowing Harry’s death in 1860, his embalmed body was returned to India, accompanied by Sophia and Charles, where it was interred in an above-ground tomb. Sophia inherited Harry’s vast estate, which almost certainly contained many fine jewels and Mughal objects. Sophia began living together with Charles in Calcutta, bearing him a son in 1862. Following a financially significant arrangement being agreed by Sophia with Charles, the two eventually married in 1863 with the family returning to England a short time thereafter.\r\nSophia died in 1866, with Charles being named as an executor with instruction to liquidate her un-itemised English estate which included “jewels, trinkets and shawls”.\r\nSoon thereafter, in 1868, Guthrie sold part of his collection of jade and rock crystal objects to The India Museum and his large coin collection to a museum in Germany. Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie died in 1874 and the remainder of his collections was sold at auction, in accordance with the terms of his will, with many objects finding their way into other important collections and then subsequently to the museum.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"A dagger hilt, pistol grip, mottled deep green nephrite jade, intricate flower and leaf design inlaid in gold, Mughal empire, c. 1780-1790, formerly in the Guthrie collection","bibliographicReferences":[{"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. 1170","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["02583(IS)"],"accessionNumberNum":"02583","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-13","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":false}}