The Mughal jewel trade is the international gem and jewellery commerce that supplied the Mughal Empire (1526 to 1858) and that shaped the formation of one of the world's most consequential historical concentrations of precious stones. The Mughal emperors — particularly Akbar (1556 to 1605), Jahangir (1605 to 1627), Shah Jahan (1628 to 1658), and Aurangzeb (1658 to 1707) — were major patrons of the gem trade, with the imperial treasury accumulating substantial holdings of rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires, and pearls drawn from across Eurasia. The supply networks that fed the Mughal court ran from Burma through the Bay of Bengal, from Colombia through the Atlantic and the Cape of Good Hope and onward through the Indian Ocean trade, from the Golconda mines of central India through Hyderabad to Delhi, and from the Persian Gulf pearl banks through the established maritime trade.

The principal gem sources

Burma's Mogok valley supplied the rubies and red spinels that the Mughal court particularly prized. The Mogok deposits had been worked since at least the sixth century, and the trade with India was well established before the Mughal period. Mogok rubies entered the Mughal supply through the Bay of Bengal trade, with Chittagong and other Bengal ports as the principal landing points before onward shipment by overland trade routes to Delhi and Agra. The famous Timur Ruby (now identified as a spinel of approximately 361 carats and held in the British Royal Collection) is one of the documented imperial Mughal stones from the Burmese supply.

Colombian emeralds entered the Mughal supply through the Portuguese trade routes that had been established following the Spanish conquest of Colombia in the 1530s. Emeralds from the Muzo and Chivor mines were shipped from Colombia to Spain, then to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to Goa via the Cape of Good Hope. From Goa, the Portuguese trading network distributed emeralds to the courts of South and Central Asia, with the Mughal court being one of the largest customers. Many of the finest carved Mughal emeralds — the carved hexagonal stones with floral and calligraphic decoration that are among the iconic Mughal pieces — are from Colombian rough imported through this network.

Diamonds came principally from the Golconda mines of central India, located in present-day Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. Golconda was the world's principal diamond source until the discovery of the Brazilian deposits in the early eighteenth century, and the Mughal court had direct access to the supply through the Hyderabad trading networks. Many of the most important historic Mughal diamonds — the Koh-i-Noor, the Daria-i-Noor, the Hortensia, the Shah, and others — were of Golconda origin and were acquired by the Mughal treasury through tribute, conquest, or commercial purchase from the mines and the associated dealer networks.

Pearls came principally from the Persian Gulf pearl banks, with smaller supply from the Sri Lankan (Mannar) banks and from the Red Sea. The Persian Gulf pearl trade was centred on Bahrain and the Trucial coast, with Indian merchants playing a substantial role in the export trade. The Mughal court accumulated very large quantities of pearls, used both as loose stones in jewellery construction and as elaborate strung ornaments worn by the imperial family and court figures.

The acquisition mechanisms

Mughal acquisition of gems took several forms. Tribute from subordinate states — including the regular annual tribute from Hyderabad in Golconda diamonds, from Bengal and other provinces in various stones, and from external states such as Burma in rubies — provided a substantial part of the imperial supply. Commercial purchase through the great gem dealers of Delhi, Agra, and the trading port of Surat provided another channel, with the imperial treasurers maintaining ongoing relationships with the principal merchants. Conquest and confiscation — the seizure of treasuries during military campaigns — added significant quantities at irregular intervals, with the Mughal expansion through northern and central India accumulating substantial gem holdings from the displaced regional courts.

The imperial treasury included specialist officers responsible for gem evaluation, cataloguing, and maintenance. Akbar's court included documented gem evaluators (jawharī), and the practice continued throughout the imperial period. The cataloguing of imperial gem holdings was one of the principal functions of the treasury, with detailed records maintained of individual stones including their weight, source, acquisition history, and current location within the imperial system.

The cutting and setting workshops

The Mughal court established workshops (kārkhānas) for cutting, carving, and setting gemstones, located principally in Delhi, Agra, and Lahore. The workshops employed Indian, Persian, and Central Asian craftsmen, with the integration of multiple cultural traditions producing the distinctive Mughal jewellery style. The cutting tradition developed within the workshops emphasised carat weight retention over brilliance optimisation, producing the characteristic Mughal cut with large flat tables and minimal additional faceting. The setting traditions integrated kundan (gold foil setting), enamelling (meenakari), and the distinctive Mughal claw setting that combined kundan with metal prong elements.

Documentation and historical sources

The Mughal jewel trade is documented through several principal sources. Court histories — the Akbarnama, the Tuzk-i-Jahangiri (Jahangir's memoirs), the Padshahnama, and others — describe the acquisition, display, and use of gems in the imperial context. European travellers' accounts — the writings of Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Niccolao Manucci, François Bernier, and others — provide outside perspectives on the imperial gem holdings and the broader trade. Surviving objects in museum collections — the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Al Thani Collection, the Khalili Collection, the Topkapı Palace Museum, the British Royal Collection, and various Iranian and Indian collections — provide the material evidence that anchors the documentary record.

The 1739 dispersal

The Mughal jewel trade and the imperial accumulation came to an abrupt and consequential end with the 1739 sack of Delhi by the Persian ruler Nadir Shah. Nadir Shah's army looted the Mughal treasury, carrying away the Peacock Throne, the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the Timur Ruby, and substantial quantities of other imperial gems. The 1739 dispersal effectively ended the Mughal empire's status as the world's principal concentration of gem wealth, with the surviving imperial holdings declining in significance as the empire itself contracted through the eighteenth and into the nineteenth centuries. Many of the dispersed gems eventually reached the British Royal Collection, the Iranian Crown Jewels, and the various private and institutional collections that hold them today.

In the trade

For Skyjems and the broader trade, the Mughal jewel trade represents both a historical reference point and an ongoing source of stones that continue to circulate in the contemporary high-end market. Historic Mughal-period stones with documented provenance to specific imperial pieces or to documented dispersals command substantial premiums, with major auction houses regularly handling pieces with documented Mughal connections. The cutting and setting traditions developed in the Mughal workshops continue to influence contemporary Indian high jewellery, and the broader history is essential context for the connoisseurship of the most important coloured stones in international circulation.

Further reading

• Victoria and Albert Museum — Treasures of the Mughals
• GIA Gems & Gemology — historic Indian gemstones
• Royal Collection Trust — Mughal and Indian jewels
• International Gem Society — historic gemstone trade