PROBABLY JAIPUR, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1900

The style of the flowers and the birds on our cigarette case, especially the peacock at the lower end, is similar to the reverse of a forehead ornament which was in the al-Thani collection (Susan Stronge, Bejewelled Treasures: the al-Thani Collection, London, 2015, p.106, no.57). Like ours, the palette on that example included both cobalt-blue and turquoise, colours which Stronge suggests were added to the traditional palette of red and green in the second half of the 19th century to appeal to the tastes of Western collectors. Another enamelled cigarette case was sold Maharajas and Mughal Magnificence, Christie's New York, 19 June 2019, lot 100.