AGENCIES[ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2004 05:54:36 AM ]
LONDON : Some of the Mughal treasures acquired by Robert Clive, the British governor of Bengal in the 18th century, are to be sold by his descendants for about £1.3m.

The collection acquired by ‘Clive of India’, as he became better known after a series of campaigns culminating in the battle of Plassey in 1757, includes a jade flask described by Christie’s specialist William Robinson as “one of the most glorious of Mughal jewelled artefacts to have survived right upto the present day.”

The flask, intricately decorated with bands of emeralds and ruby flowers, all set in gold, was once part of the collection at the imperial court in Delhi and was probably looted from Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah by Nadir Shah, a Persian king who invaded India in 1739.

How Robert Clive acquired it is not really certain, but it may have been the booty after his victory over Siraj-ud Daulah, Nawab of Bengal, at Plassey. The new Nawab, Mir Jaffir, threw open the treasury and invited the British commander to take what he wanted. It is expected to fetch more than £1m when it is auctioned at a sale of Islamic art in London on April 27, auctioneers Christie’s said.

Robert Clive, who had joined the East India Company in 1743, made a fortune calculated at £21m by the current standards.

Also, among his treasures are a carved dagger valued at £50,000, a flywhisk made from banded agate and inset with rubies worth in the region of £8,000, and a green nephrite bowl that could fetch close to £10,000.