History About the Engraved Shah Diamond

THE SHAH

Engraved Diamonds--A Barbarous Subterfuge--Sadek Khan Bricked Up in a Dungeon--An Incident of the Desert--"A Blaze of Jewels"--Oriental Extravagance.

This fine stone shares with the "Jehan-Ghir Shah" the honour of being the only diamonds that are known to have ever been engraved in the East. And so little known are even these specimens, that they are not so much as mentioned by King in his otherwise interesting account of diamond engraving in the Natural History of Precious Stones.

The "Shah" seems to have formed part of the Persian regalia from the remotest times. Barbot asserts that it was lost when Nadir Shah's treasures were plundered by his revolting troops after his death in 1747. But if so, it was afterwards recovered, for according to the generally accepted account, it was presented to the Russian Emperor, Nicholas I., by the Persian Prince Cosrhoes, younger son of Abbas Mirza, when he visited St. Petersburg in 1843.

The "Shah" is table-cut, or what is technically known as lasque. It is of the very finest water, without the least cloud or flaw, and so pure throughout, that in treating it, the cutter was able to leave several of the national facets untouched. This circumstance also explains the small sacrifice which it suffered in the process of reduction. It is said to have weighed in the rough about 95 carats, and as its present weight is 86 carats, it lost 9 carats only in the cutter's hands. The three facets obtained by cleavage are beautifully engraved in Arabo-Persian characters with the names of three Persian rulers as under:--

1. (Akbar Shah).

2. (Nisim Shah).

3. (Fat'hh Ali Shah).

Round the upper edge of the stone runs a small groove, apparently for the purpose of securing the string with which it was worn suspended round the neck. By what process this intaglio and the inscriptions were executed it is impossible to say. The probability is that all were done at the same time by some European gem-engraver employed by the Persian Court.

The third name engraved on this remarkable diamond is that of Aga Mohammed's nephew, who succeeded him in 1797. On Aga's death in that year, the usurper, Sadek Khan seized a great quantity of crown jewels. But he was defeated at Kasvin, and he purchased his freedom by surrendering most of these treasures. The rest he retained, intending, if necessary, to use them in a similar way on some future occasion. Some time afterwards he did actually again revolt. Fat'hh Ali's patience was now exhausted, and he not only confiscated all the remaining jewels, amongst which was this engraved stone, but also ordered the rebel Sadek Khan to be bricked up alive in a dungeon. This method of punishment was adopted because Fat'hh Ali had, on a former occasion, promised on oath never to shed Sadek's blood.

Yet Fat'hh Ali, in spite of his inhuman punishment of Sadek, was not naturally cruel. Many instances are, indeed, related of his kindly and magnanimous disposition. On one occasion, as he was passing through the desert from Bastam to Shahrud, it so happened that the ladies of the harem and their escort lost their way. The king, with a few attendants, immediately set out in search of them; but they strayed so far that all the water was consumed and nothing remained except a small piece of ice, which was reserved for Fat'hh Ali. Perceiving however, that a young prince had fainted from weakness and thirst, this Oriental Sir Philip Sydney relinquished the life-giving morsel, and with his own hands placed it in the mouth of his exhausted fellow traveller.

Fat'hh Ali was on one occasion visited by Sir R. Kerr-Porter, who in his Travels thus describes his magnificent reception: "He entered the saloon from the left, and advanced to the foot of it with an air and step which belonged entirely to a sovereign. Had there been any assumption in his manner I could not have been so impressed. He was one blaze of jewels, which literally dazzled the sight on first looking at him. A lofty tiara of three elevations was on his head, which shape appears to have been long peculiar to the crown of the great king. It was entirely composed of thickly-set diamonds and pearls, rubies and emeralds, so exquisitely disposed as to form a mixture of the most beautiful colours in the brilliant light reflected from its surface. Several black feathers like the heron's plumes, were inter-mixed with the resplendent aigrettes of this truly Imperial diadem, whose bending points were finished with pear-shaped pearls of an immense size. The vesture was of gold tissue, nearly covered with a similar disposition of jewelry, and crossing the shoulders were too strings of pearls, probably the largest in the world. I call his dress a vesture, because it set close to his person, from the neck to the bottom of the waist, showing a shape as noble as his air. At that point it devolved downwards in loose drapery, like the usual Persian garment, and was of the same costly materials with the vest. But for splendour nothing could exceed the broad bracelets round his arms, and the belt which encircled his waist. They actually blazed like fire, when the rays of the sun met them; and when we know the names derived from such excessive lustre, we cannot be surprised at seeing such an effect. The jewelled band on the right arm was called the 'Mountain of Light,' and that on the left 'the Sea of Light.' These names were of course derived from the celebrated diamonds contained in the bracelets."

It will be seen from our account of the "Darya-i-Nur" and "Moon of Mountains" that this writer is in error regarding the name of one of these famous diamonds. His description is in other respects extremely interesting, and helps to show that towards the beginning of the present century most of the crown jewels (scattered during the troubles ensuing on the death of Nadir Shah), had again been recovered and collected in the royal treasury.