Central Block, First Floor

Jade Gallery

Barring a few exceptions like the Prince of Wales Museum (CSMVS), Mumbai, Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi and Fort museum, New Delhi; Indian museums by and large do not have Jade in their collection. In this context the Jade collection of the Salar Jung museum assumes a lot of significance. It is indeed impressive on account of the largeness of its size, variety and workmanship. Probably one of the biggest museum collections of jade in the world.

Jade is a semi-precious stone very fine grained and varies in colour from almost pure white, emerald green to a dark blackish green. Due to its pleasing colour and extreme toughness Jade stone is very avidly chosen by craftsmen to give shape to their artistic notions. In olden days, kings and nobles considered it to be a matter of prestige to include a few Jade objects in their collection.

According to scholars fashioning of Jade is especially associated with the courts of the Mughal emperors. Prior to the 16th century there was no tradition of Jade fashioning in India, although Indian artists had the expertise in shaping and carving harder stones like rock-crystal and agate.

The orient art of Jade carving is said to have started under the patronage of Ulugh Beg, the grandson of Timur, In the 15th century at Samarkand. The Salar Jung museum has a carved Jade dagger belonging to Jahangir, who ascended the Mughal throne later. Shahjahan the successor of Jahangir, also encouraged Jade carvers and it was during his period that Jade carving reached its annex of perfection and attained full maturity.

Indian Jade collection at the Salar Jung museum is noted for its quality of design and perfection in workmanship and is a living testimony to the perfection achieved by the Jade craftsmen. Most of the Jade objects are carved with traditional floral designs and they show excellent sheen and polish. There are also a fairly large number of Jade objects studded with precious stones like diamonds, rubies, emeralds and turquoise stones.

The museum consists of wine cups, mirror back frames, huqqa pipe ends, plates, cups, amulets and a large number of swords and daggers. Most of the objects are dated from 17th to 19th century based on the craftsmanship and embellishment.

Among the daggers of historical importance in the museum, two belong to Shah Jahan and Noor Jahan. Apart from this the museum houses Aurangzeb’s jade handled dagger as well. There are approximately 130 Jade handled daggers, some of which are inlaid with precious stones.