A silver-gilt and enamelled flywhisk handle, India, second half 17th century

the plume holder composed of a silver cylindrical core encased in silver mesh, a rounded ridge at its base, with silver-gilt mounts in the form of registers of three-lobed lappets with chased detailing accompanied by bands of hemispheres, the base of the holder with a collar of blue and green champlevé enameling on silver, the design composed of a garland of stylized lotus each issuing a pair of trefoil foliate motifs, the haft of narrow cylindrical form with three rounded ridges along its length and a domed terminal with bud-form finial, decorated throughout in the same manner as the holder, with a plume of peacock feathers

Glory and Prosperity, Metalwork of the Islamic World, Harvard Art Museums, 2002

minor losses to enamelling, slight wear, in excellent condition, as viewed
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This exquisite treasury object demands diverse skills from its talented maker to produce an object combining both opulence and refinement.

The enamelled collar displays the two colours, green and blue, most associated with enamelwork from Lucknow but which had also characterized work from the Deccan from the later sixteenth century (Zebrowski 1997, p.82, no.68). The treatment of the motifs, the stylized lotus and plump leaves, are less more controlled work that might be associated with the Deccan and are moving more towards the styling of these same elements in eighteenth-century work from Lucknow (ibid., p.85, no.71). The three-lobed lappets of the silver-gilt mounts repeated along the length of the flywhisk handle suggest a dating of c.1650-1700 as closely related designs appear on two enamelled pandans, considered to be late seventeenth century, and a silver pandan thought to date to the first half of the eighteenth century (ibid., p.91, nos.81 and 82, and p.44, no.19, respectively). The latter has a loose wire mesh fitted around a silver core, not identical to the flywhisk but highly reminiscent.

Here, the silver mesh is constructed of thin silver wire woven tightly together in sections to the exact proportions to cover the area for which they are intended. It is a highly unusual technique providing a softer finish as an effective contrast to the high polish of the silver-gilt mounts.  It also gives the object a greater textural complexity both visual and tactile, the latter of great relevance to an object to be held in the hand.