A fine Mughal jade gem-set crutch handle, India, 17th century

of pale green jade in curved form with two beautifully carved addorsed ibex heads joined at the neck, acanthus leaves carved in low relief at the forte, with the ibex eyes of banded agate set in gold and five diamonds later set in silver along the neck and heads

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, 1982, no. 359.

The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1982, no. 359.

Some staining to jade, very little chipping, gems still intact, good condition, as viewed.
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The zoomorphic carvings of the Mughal era find great expression in jade, rock crystal and ivory crutch handles and dagger hilts.  These sculptural figures often took the form of rams' or horses' heads that varied in quality and decorative value; some are adorned with jewels, whilst others are left plain.  The present zafar takiya or crutch head is comparable to a crutch head in the al-Sabah Collection (Kuwait 2001, no.8.15, p.99) with addorsed rams heads, and remarkable not only for the choice of animal, the ibex, but also for the quality of its carving.  Even the peripheral details such as the rope with which it is tethered are treated with the utmost sensitivity, exhibiting a realistic knotting around the rings beneath its chin and against its cheeks.  The carved harness reflects the way in which the domestic animal would have been tethered, as shown by a contemporary miniature of a seated antelope by the celebrated seventeenth-century artist Mansur, where the rope wraps around the muzzle and the back of the head, with a metal band and ring under the chin (Thackston, W., (tr.) The Jahangirnama, Oxford Unverisity Press, New York, 1999, p.77). 

The emperor Jahangir, during whose reign this piece is likely to have been produced, was just as enamoured with nature and the animal kingdom as his great grandfather Babur.  In his memoirs, the Jahangirnama, the emperor refers repeatedly to various plants and animals, noting their habits, habitat and appearance amongst other things.  Jahangir notes his first impressions of an ibex: "It is really a remarkably good-looking animal.  Although the black antelope of Hindustan is very fine-looking, this one is something else altogether... I like it alot" (ibid. pp. 83-318).