A 'PEACOCK FEATHERS' BIDRI SILVER-INLAID HUQQA BASE Bidar, Deccan, Central India, late 18th - early 19th century Bell-shaped, resting on a wide circular splayed base, a thick metal plate soldered to the bottom, rising to narrow shoulders and to a ringed cylindrical neck with reinforced rim, the body decorated in the typical 'peacock feathers' motif, used as a frieze on the body and neck, on the shoulders a band of stylised petal-like pattern, the interior of the neck with later added screwing ridges, 20.3cm high. A very similar huqqa, decorated with the same 'peacock feathers' frieze, is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum collection (IS.19-1980, published in S. Stronge, Bidri Ware: Inlaid Metalwork from India , 1985, cat. 13, p. 50). Similarly to ours, the neck has been worked, possibly in Europe, to convert it into a lampshade and a thick metal plate is soldered to the bottom to provide additional stability.