Spinels were the most highly prized stone in the Baburid treasury, assessed according to their size, lustre, transparency and the beaut y of their deep rose-red colour.
Also known as ‘Balas rubies’, and often confused with that stone, the best spinels have greater clarity than rubies and are easier to engrave. The most valuable spinels came from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. They were usually worn as beads rather than as faceted gems.
Today, the necklace is kept in the Museum of Islamic Art Malaysia displayed here is adorned with seven 17th-century spinel beads, restrung at the later date with an intertwined double string of pearls. There is an emerald drop suspended below. Each spinel has a Baburid title engraved on it in Persian and numbered from left to right.
_IK7Vype_1.webp)
Seal ring of Shah Jahan
This magnificent spinel and enamel seal ring is associa ted with the fifth Baburid Emperor Shah Jahan, who ruled from 1627−1658. The spinel stone mounted on the ring is da ted around 1643 and is inscribed with the title of the emper or, “Sahib-I Qiran Thani” (Second Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction). Judging by the two-centimetre diameter of the ring, it is likely that the seal ring w as worn on the smallest finger. The gold ring is enamelled in blue, a technique that was introduced to the Baburid court in the second half of the 16th century. This may have been the result of European jewellers serving at the Baburid court.
_N2xuZdG_1.webp)