V&A acquires UK’s first Ottoman jade tankard

Gem-studded treasure bought from private collection in Turkey will join oriental treasures in Jameel gallery

* guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 April 2011 18.15 BST

V&A’s Ottoman tankard

The V&A said the jewel-studded jade tankard was unlike anything else in British national collections. Photograph: Ian Thomas

A spectacular 16th-century Ottoman jade tankard – which, with its thumbnail-sized studs of rubies and emeralds held in a net of gold, would have been excruciatingly uncomfortable to drink from – has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert museum.

One of the first of its kind in any UK museum collection, the tankard is among a handful of survivors of such quality, made by imperial craft workers in Istanbul for an Ottoman sultan.

It has been held quietly in a private collection for centuries, and was accepted by the government in lieu of inheritance tax owed. The V&A was helped to raise the £489,000 price tag with major grants, including £225,000 from the Art Fund charity.

“There is nothing like it in the V&A or any other national collection in Britain,” said the outgoing V&A director, Sir Mark Jones. “It is a great addition to our Middle Eastern collection, which is one of the most important in the world, and will help us illustrate the story of the Ottoman empire in the late 16th century.”

The tankard would have been a fabulously expensive object in its day, made of jade imported from central Asia. But, like many pieces made for the Ottoman court, it aped the shape of a much more humble object. With its pot-bellied front and flat back, it imitates the leather drinking vessels nomads would have slung in their saddlebags.

Two centuries later, the tankard became an even more spectacular piece of bling when the florid gold handle, foot and jewelled rim for the cover were added.

It goes on display among the 10,000 spectacular oriental treasures in the Jameel gallery. Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: “We hope that as many people as possible will see it and be enthralled by its arresting detail and fascinating history.”

via V&A acquires UK’s first Ottoman jade tankard | Art and design | The Guardian.