A highly important and rare Gujarati mother-of-pearl tabletop, rectangular in shape and made from teak panels (Tectona grandis), covered on the top with tesserae made from the highest-quality green turban shell (Turbo marmoratus) pinned with brass pins, while the underside shows traces of red and black shellac painting.The mother-of-pearl design includes a large central medallion with an inner circle of radial polylobed tesserae following an Islamic-type design with small nielloed silver tesserae and tortoiseshell dots on the border, with the outer circle forming a stylised lotus flower; on a ground of fish-scale pattern four smaller medallions are set on the corners, also with radial polylobed tesserae and a similar Islamic-type tortoiseshell border; the four corners further decorated with quarter circles.While many late sixteenth-century objects made in Gujarat featuring mother-of-pearl are known only a few include tortoiseshell (probably from the green sea turtle or Chelonia mydas). One of the most unusual aspects of the decoration of our tabletop is, nonetheless, the use of nielloed silver plaquettes which are Islamic in shape and decoration. Niello (from the Latin nigellum,“somewhat black”) is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved silver which is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts. It hardens and blackens when cool and is polished to highlight the contrast with the silver around it. While sixteenth-century north Indian silver objects decorated with niello are virtually non-existent, examples of this highly refined technique have been documented in Iranian metalwork since early times, and from which the present nielloed plaquettes, with their vegetal design, seem to originate.

English art market