This is one of the most memorable items that I have ever had the pleasure of selling in all my many years at Christies. I first saw Jahangir’s emerald drinking cup in a small wooden box in a bank vault in 2003. I was there with William Robinson, Head of our Islamic Department to value it for auction and we could not believe our eyes, the most stunning object we had ever seen. It is made of three pieces of extremely fine emerald. The bowl weighs over 400 carats on its own and is delicately carved with a fish scale pattern on each face and herring-bone borders. The stem and the base sections are joined to the bowl by a gold rod that runs from the base up to the bowl and the rod is connected to a round gold and green enamel circular disk on the base. It is the largest and finest emerald cup known, measuring 7.2cm high and would have been used by Jahangir to drink wine circa 1605-1627. The cup may be seen on view at the Qatar Museum of Art in Doha, along with many other remarkable Indian jewels and jewelled objects.