Description
A rare Chinese armorial soup tureen and cover, painted with a pseudo Imari design after a Worcester pattern, and decorated with an armorial device supported by a cheetah and an elephant above a scroll inscribed in Arabic: "Vizier of the Kingdoms, the Right of the State, Bahadur", early 19th century, a little wear to the gilding, 36cm. (2) The service was probably made for Bahadur II, the last Mughal Emperor of India, who was on the throne from 1837-1858. Having joined the mutineers in Delhi in 1857, he was exiled by the British to Burma where he died. Cf. William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, and D. Nader, China to Order, where a platter from this service is illustrated, pl. 161 and 162. Howard & Ayres, China for the West, pl. 486.
