An Indo-Portuguese mother-of-pearl dish

Gujarat, India

17th century

7.9 inches {20.2 cm} diameter

Mother-of-pearl wares were a favoured material at the Mughal court, as witnessed by Sir Thomas Roe in 1616, when he noted a throne and a pavillion covered in this technique at the emperor's camp near Agra. {The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mughal, Vol.II, pp325-26}.

Records show that mother-of-pearl wares were being imported to Europe as early as the second quarter of the 16th century, the first wares being listed in the royal collections of Manuel I of Portugal in 1522 and of Francis I of France in 1529.