London—Two Mughal-era spectacles featuring diamond and emerald lenses failed to find a buyer at Sotheby’s London Wednesday.
At its recent “Arts of the Islamic World & India” sale, the auction house put two pairs of glasses from an unknown “princely treasury” up on the block.
Neither sold, though the auction house had estimated they would go for between £1.5 million and £2.5 million each (about $2.1 million to $3.4 million at current exchange rates).
The “Gate of Paradise” glasses comprise two drop-shape, flat-cut emeralds weighing a total 27 carats set in silver and gold frames and mounted with old-cut diamonds and emeralds.
There was also the “Halo of Light” spectacles, crafted with two flat-cut diamonds weighing 25 total carats set in silver and gold frames and mounted with smaller old-cut diamonds.
The spectacles originated in 17th century Mughal India, where they were commissioned by an unknown prince, according to Sotheby’s.
They were shaped from a 200-plus-carat stone believed to have come from the famed Golconda mines in southern India and a single Colombian emerald weighing more than 300 carats.
Source: National Jeweler 28-10-2021
