Archer's thumb ring
India or Pakistan
17th century
Gold, chased and engraved, and set with rubies and emeralds; the inside enamelled in opaque turquoise, pale green, white and black
Museum no. IM. 207-1920

The high quality of this thumb ring strongly suggest that it was a courtly piece. Similar rings are seen in portraits of the emperor and his sons in Mughal paintings of about 1620-30. It is one of a small group of objects using the same technique of setting rubies and emeralds (and in some of the group, minute diamonds) in dense patterns against a ground of chased gold, all dating to about the same period.

The thumb ring is enamelled on the inside, as is often the case with Mughal jewellery. Here, however, the motifs and colours of the enamel are strikingly European and this may suggest that the enamelling was done by a European craftsman at the Mughal court, of whom there were a small number at this time.