Jahangir’s wine cup
Northern India; Mughal, 1607–8 (dated AH 1016)
Jade
H. 5.5cm; W. 7.4cm
This wine cup, whose inscriptions tell us that it was intended for the exclusive use of Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) is, to date, the oldest piece of jade tableware that can be linked to a Mughal emperor. These inscriptions also testify to the sovereign's taste for Sufi poetry, which praised drunkenness as one of the paths to union with God.