Mughal lapidaries, notably those of the Shah Jahan period (1628–58), produced some of the most remarkable jades, some of which were collected in China. In 1904, Isabella was given a finely carved tray of pale green nephrite, accompanied by a perfectly fitting wooden stand of Chinese manufacture.¹ While not of the high quality demanded by the Qing courts, the tray may have belonged to a Chinese collector. A similar tray is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.² Neither object reproduces a specific Indian or Mughal form: the oval shape and low, lobed walls imitating petals are uncommon. However, the main decorative motif carved in low relief is inspired by Mughal models. The craftsman took advantage of the translucence of the stone by carving the underside of the tray, rather than the inner surface. The tray could therefore be used without scraping the decoration. The foot is carved in the form of a chevron, which prevents the motif from coming into contact with any surface.

The motif consists of an eight-petaled flower at the center of a leafy ornament. An intrinsically Mughal characteristic is the way that the petals and some of the leaves curve over at their tips. Another object, a two-handled bowl of white nephrite, attributed to the late seventeenth century, is decorated with a similar flower with curved tips (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai).³ In this object, the flower is also its foot, and it is therefore not visible when the piece is resting on a surface.⁴ It is possible that such bowls with hidden flowers inspired the decoration of the tray in the Gardner Museum. Similar flowers were used to decorate other precious objects, notably a gold and enamel hookah in the Khalili Collection, London, attributed to an eighteenth-century workshop in Mewar, Rajasthan.sup>5

¹ Given to Gardner by Quincy A. Shaw in 1904. Shaw collected Renaissance sculpture and drawings by Jean-François Millet.
² Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Hindustan Jade in the National Palace Museum (exh. cat. National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983), pl. 34.
³ Inv. 22.1329; George Michell, Mughal Style: The Art and Architecture of Islamic India(Mumbai, 2007) 273, no. 64.
⁴ The so-called Shah Jahan’s cup of the mid-seventeenth century, considered the finest Mughal jade (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inv. IS 12-1962), also has a foot in the form of a flower.
⁵ Inv. jly 1974; Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver and Bronze from Mughal India (London, 1997): 62–65, pls. 40–42.

Source: Pedro Moura Carvalho, “Jewelry and Objects from India,” in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 460-61.