Enamelled Gold Whistle, India

Enamelled Gold Child’s Whistle

This fine whistle is of solid gold is enamelled in light and dark blue, green, red, and white enamels with Mughal-inspired flower and bird designs.

This whistle might have been commissioned as a gift for a royal child. It might also have been commissioned for placing on a shrine for the infant Krishna.In India, effigies of Hindu gods are treated as the gods themselves and thus have earthly requirements. Accordingly, bronze statues of the infant Krishna would be treated with much loving care and provided with toys, often bejewelled. It is for this purpose that this whistle might have been made.

Gold, enamelled whistles from Mughal India are rarely encountered and few, if any, have been published. We have encountered only two. The other can be seen

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The whistle has been fitted with a gold loop and can be worn as a pendant. The item can still function as a whistle. There are no dents, or repairs; with only minor losses to the enamel. Overall, the item is rare and decorative.