EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Brief Description
A silver huqqa set, for smoking tobacco through scented water. Partly gilt,
decorated throughout in enamel (mostly blue, but also green and on the base,
purple) and set with white sapphires and rubies.
Made up of five separate parts – 1) globular base, ht. 16.90 cm; 2) tobacco
bowl, ht. 9.00 cm and 3) its cover, ht. 7.00cm; 4) ring, ht. 5.00 cm; 5)
mouthpiece, ht. 6.50 cm.
As is usual with Indian decorative arts, even with items of this magnificence,
there is no information concerning the craftsmen who made this set. There
would certainly have been several, and based in different of the court ateliers
on account of the varied skills needed to produce this remarkable composite
object – silver-, and goldsmiths, enamellers, and jewellers, all typical of the
high-level craftsmanship known from the Mughal and successor states of
northern India in the 18th century. This set is dated to the middle of that
century.
The condition is no longer good, especially on account of the flaking of the
enamel which has been recorded in recent years. It is for this reason that it
didn’t travel when the Maharajas exhibition toured from the V&A. Today, any
undue movement must be avoided.
Context
Provenance:
This very striking huqqa set was probably produced in Lucknow, in northern
India in the mid-18th century. Enamelling of this quality is known to have been
a feature of the court culture in the nawabi court of Awadh whose capital city
was Lucknow.
It has a well-established provenance in this country reaching back to only a
few decades after its likely production. It belonged to Robert Clive (17251774), ‘Clive of India’, and then passed to his son Edward, Earl of Powis and
then to his descendants. From the correspondence of the first Lady Clive, we
can deduce it was already in this country in 1766, while it is certain to have
been in Britain from 1775 as it is clearly recorded in an inventory of Lord
Clive’s estate following his death the year before. Since that time it has
remained in the possession of the Clive family and, from 1987 has been
exhibited at Powis Castle (the Clive/Herbert house) which, since 1952, has
been in the care of the National Trust. Following the death of the last member
of the Clive family to own the huqqa set, Mrs Vida Schreiber, it was sold by
Christie’s in London on April 27th 2004. Since then, it has been stopped from
leaving the country on account of it satisfying the first and third of the
Waverley Criteria.
Key literary and exhibition references:
Exhibited:
1982 V&A The Indian Heritage: Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule.
2011 V&A Maharaja. The splendour of India’s royal courts.
Published:
1902 Rivett-Carnac, J. H. ‘Specimens of Indian Metalwork’ in Journal of Indian
Art and Industry, no. 77, figs. 101 & 102.
1982 V&A exhibition catalogue (see above, and with same name) ed. Robert
Skelton (cat. 339, col. pl. 14).
1987 Treasures from India. The Clive Collection at Powis Castle. National
Trust/Herbert Press (cat. 89, col. pl. p. 62).
2011 V&A exhibition catalogue (see above, and with same name) ed.
Jackson, Anna and Amin Jaffer (ill. p. 137, pl. 11).
Waverley Criteria
The huqqa set meets Waverley Criteria One and Three. In the case of
Criterion Three it meets the requirement on account of its great importance in
the study of Mughal court arts – gold-, and silver-smithing, jewel-setting, and
especially enamelling, an area of study that, in recent decades, has received
increasing attention. An allied area of study concerns the place of tobacco in
the social etiquette of early modern India and the adoption of it by the British
administrators of the later 18th century.
DETAILED CASE
Detailed description
This huqqa set is exceptionally grand in its execution, with dramatic
decoration, using multiple materials, and typical of the late Mughal period and
of Lucknow in particular. During the middle of the 18th century, taste moved
from sumptuous understatement, towards a more ‘baroque’ appreciation of
shimmering surfaces on richly-coloured backgrounds. This huqqa set is a
grand example of that later courtly taste. And, it was presented to/acquired by
a man, Robert Clive, who through his victory at Plassey (1757), was suddenly,
but unquestionably, worthy of such a gift. Because of the date of Lady Clive’s
correspondence recording the object and the inventory made following Robert
Clive’s death, we have here an extremely fine set of objects decorated using
the enamel which is so typical of Lucknow and dated at least from the
terminus post position. From this position we can extrapolate dates for the
many more but undated examples of Lucknow enamelling. Examples, for
which any secure dating can be established, are exceptionally rare. This
object therefore has an added importance.
The set is the sort of item used in diplomatic gift-giving, such an important part
of early modern Indian society – and it is intact. So often, the individual parts
of the set become separated, especially the lower bowl from the upper parts.
That this set is complete only adds to its importance. Further, the set is
notable as the bowl is of the earlier globular type, rather than the later and
now more common, bell-shaped type.
We know that this showy item belonged to Clive, probably foisted upon
him/acquired by him following his victory at Plassey in 1757. It hints at the
social position that smoking had in the 18th century – paintings exist showing
treaty and commercial negotiations taking place with the participants smoking
using huqqa.of this type (see British Library example appended to this
document). It became an important element of court etiquette, without which
social intercourse was lessened. So, to have this complete set remaining in
Britain with these varied references is hugely important.
Detailed explanation of the outstanding significance of the item(s).
This five-part set belonged to Robert Clive (1725-1774). It is difficult to
imagine a single figure more important in the story of the establishment of
British power in India, a power the consequences of which we still live with
today. This huqqa set was almost certainly acquired by Clive soon after his
victory at Plassey (1757). This battle utterly changed the fortunes of the East
India Company and those who worked in it, and the immediate consequences
of that battle led directly to the eventual control of the subcontinent by the
British. Thus, the link between Clive and this gorgeous work of
art/craftsmanship, makes an important statement. Clive’s career was
controversial even in his own day on account of the riches he acquired while
in India, and it is perhaps even more so today. Thus, in terms of modern
British scholarship (sometimes of South Asian ancestry), the ability to access
objects that inform us of his personality is important and it would be
regrettable if this set was divorced from other similar items where they can
provide witness in this debate.
As stated above, the using of huqqa in social and diplomatic intercourse is
well-known. This set also though documents the spread of tobacco use in the
subcontinent. Tobacco is, of course, a New World plant but had arrived in
India with the Portuguese in the late 16th century. That its use spread fast we
know from both textual evidence (in Bijapur in 1604) and paintings (a thang-ka
painted in Ladakh and depicting king Sengge Namgyal, r.1616-1642 smoking
with a huqqa), as well as in a decree from Jahangir prohibiting its use, all
indicate the popularity of the new habit. This huqqa set is a part of that story.
Huqqa bases are found in a number of collections in Britain. In the British
Museum we have examples in jade, glass, coconut shell, and above all metal
(bidri as well as brass). However, a huqqa set of silver, in part gilded, fully
enamelled and then set with two different types of precious stones, makes this
example exceptional and I can’t think of any comparable one in the UK. Its
great usefulness in the scholarly understanding of the 18th century – both of
India and of Britain – is greatly added to by its completeness.
In Summary
Waverley 1 – is it so closely connected with our history (including local
history) and national life that its departure would be a misfortune?
Yes. The close link between this set and Robert Clive – he must surely have
actually smoked using this huqqa set – make it extremely important for an
understanding of the complex history of the British engagement with India. Its
beauty, as well as its utility, speak forcefully of the relationships being formed
in the 18th century between Britons and Indians, relationships we are still
intimately living out today. Such jewelled magnificence suggests power and
its use – or even misuse – and we need to be aware of this interplay as we
assess and today re-asses, these connections. The recent exhibition at Tate
Britain, Artist and Empire, is a potent example of such re-evaluation of the
position of the British in a world context over the last three hundred years –
merchant, soldier and political master.
Waverley 3 – is it of outstanding significance for the study of some particular
branch of art, learning or history?
Yes. The huqqa set inform us about the Mughal courts and their successors
in a time of great political and economic turbulence. The collapse of the
mighty Mughal empire in the 18th century and the establishment of both
regional and colonial powers is the backdrop to the production of this beautiful
object, lush with extravagance. Anyone interested in the study of – British
and Indian history, art history, the study of court culture, the understanding of
gift-giving and the history of the acquisition, appreciation and descent of
swagger Indian items through British families – will find these objects to be of
the greatest importance.
Finally, the fact that this huqqa set has been shown by the V&A in two of its
most important Indian exhibitions within the last thirty years, gives some
indication of the enormous importance to the study of Mughal India that this
assemblage holds.
Appendix 1
Painting of a nautch presented by Mahadaji Scindia of Gwalior in his Delhi
residence for visiting British dignitaries. Delhi school artist, c.1815.
Note the use of huqqa in this formal social event; also, that they use the later,
bell-shaped huqqa base; the Clive example, which is about seventy years
earlier, is of the previous, globular type.
British Library