L12315

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Lot 128
  • 128

Unmarked Indian parcel-gilt silver filigree bezoar case

Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 GBP
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Description

  • silver
  • 6.5cm, 2 1/2in wide
ovoid, the two parts minutely engraved and pierced with stylized foliage over plain silver liners, the terminals engraved with flowerheads

Literature

Exh. Cat. Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, 2004, no. 61A

Condition

In overall good condition. Fine quality. Unusual piece.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Several engraved and pierced Indian silver bezoar stone cases have been recorded, including a very similar example to that in this lot, sold at Christie’s, London, on 6 October 2011 (lot 391). Two others, one silver, the other gold, both with contemporary stands, are in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession nos. respectively 1980.228.1, 2a,b, .3 and 2004.244a-d). The Science Museum, London, has another gold bezoar stone case on stand, its pierced and engraved scrolling foliate decoration inhabited by animals (accession no. A642470). These cases, which were made for export as well as, presumably, for local consumption, have been variously catalogued as having been made in Goa, Gujarat and North India.
The celebrated collector, Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was the owner of a bezoar stone, which he acquired from the estate of his friend, the poet Thomas Gray (1716-1771). The 1784 publication Description of Strawberry Hill, Walpole’s house at Twickenham, included ‘a large Goa stone’ and ‘a silver box almost in the shape of an egg, engraved,’ which appears to have been a bezoar stone case. Two examples were also show in 1862 at the Loan Exhibition, South Kensington, catalogue nos. 7918 and 7919.
Bezoars of the type for which bezoar cases were made were naturally occurring solids (gallstones and hair) found in the digestive systems of certain ruminants (particularly sheep, deer and antelopes), which were once prized for their supposed neutralizing effects against poison.  In fact, bezoar is a word derived from the Persian pād-zahr (antidote). Artificial bezoars were made by Jesuit priests at Goa and were intended to be used in the same way as natural bezoars: scrapings of the stone were taken mixed in tea or water as a medicine.