Goa Stone and Gold Case

Additional Images (7)

Object Name: Goa stone and container

Date: late 17th–early 18th century

Geography: India, Goa

Culture: Islamic

Medium: Container: gold; pierced, repoussé, with cast legs and finials Goa stone: compound of organic and inorganic materials

Dimensions: Goa stone: Diam. 1 3/16 in. (3 cm) container: H. 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm) Diam. 5 11/16 in. (14.4 cm)

Classification: Metal

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 2004

Accession Number: 2004.244a–d

On view in Gallery 463

Label Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio

"Goa stones" were manufactured by Jesuit priests living in Goa, a small province on India’s western coast. They are manmade versions of bezoars (a mixture of gallstones and hairs found in the stomach of deer, sheep, and antelopes) that, when scraped and ingested with tea or water, were supposed to have medicinal properties. Elaborate containers of gold or silver were made for them and they were exported to Europe. An ogival trellis containing a variety of beasts, including unicorns and griffins, overlays the container. The source of these images is likely to have come to Goa through Portuguese influence in the region.

Provenance

Gough and Hall families, England, by descent from early 18th century; Humphrey Farran Hall, England, by descent (until d. 1910); George William Marshall, England(from 1910); sale, Bonhams, London, October 16, 2003, lot 349; [ Sam Fogg, London, until 2004; sold to MMA]