A Comparative Study of Iranian and Indian Jeweled Containers

Iran and India’s art of decorating with jewels has a longstanding background. In some sources it has been referred to the jeweled containers of Safavid dynasty, but unfortunately few samples have remained from that era. Some historical documents have referred to the influence of the Iranian fine art on Mughals. In this article it is tried that in addition to providing a background of Iran and India’s art of decorating with jewels, the jeweled containers of the two countries be compared in terms of form, material, use and construction method, especially since the sixteenth century until modern times. The main question is: the interaction between Iran and India in constructing jeweled containers?
The present study which aims at comparing the jeweled containers of Iran and India and the interaction between them is a basic research which is descriptive and analytic. The data were collected through reading different library resources. The results indicate that despite the influence of Safavid bejeweled dishes on Mughals, the richness of indigenous raw materials of India lead to difference in products of Iran and Mughals regarding jeweled containers. Then, the Mughal’s style in decorating dishes with jewels during the Qajar dynasty affected Iranian jeweled containers.