Among Zoroastrian burial items, there is a camel-shaped zoomorphic OSTADON lying there. It was found…
The famous "Chalice of Ulugbek" in the Gallery of the Islamic World "Al-Bukhari" of the British Museum is the pride of every Uzbek, because it is believed: it was used by the famous mathematician and astronomer, the son of Shakhrukh and the grandson of Tamerlane, the great Ulugbek ibn Shahrukh, who ruled Samarkand in the 1400s …
The chalise is made of olive-green jade, the name and title are carved on it in Arabic script: Ulugbek Kuragan. The handle of the cup is a figurine of "Chi Long", a Chinese hornless dragon biting the edge of it. The second inscription in Turkish, engraved on a silver plate covering a crack in the rim, praises the generosity of God and translates as "The generosity of God is infinite."
Ulugbek's Chalice was purchased by the British Museum in 1959 for £ 50.
According to some reports, the Chalice was created in the first half of the 15th century in Samarkand by a local craftsman. The Timurids loved jade, considered it a stone of victory and used it to make dagger handles and other military equipment. Most of the jade carvings of the Timurid era are associated with the reign of Ulugbek, who had a noticeable passion for the legendary stone: it is known that the tombstone of Amir Temur in Gur-Emir was made from a piece of dark green jade, which Ulugbek brought to Samarkand.
Ulugbek's Chalice is an invaluable object beyond time and space - it represents an enduring cultural heritage not only for Uzbekistan, but for the whole world. On the pages of the new edition "The Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in the Collections of Great Britain" you will find a fascinating biography and revealed secrets of its travels from Central Asia to the Ottoman Empire and modern Europe, as well as stories about other jades of Timurids.
© Photos - British Museum website
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Research initiatives of the project "Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in the Collections of the World" are aimed at studying, preserving and popularizing the cultural heritage of Uzbekistan. Eriell Group, an international oilfield services company, provides all-round support in the implementation of projects.
