268 INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF INDIA.
always been famous for its practice ; as was Lucknow also before the abolition of the native court of Oudh. Among the prince’s arms is a large emerald magnificently cut as a con- ventional rose. The old Delhi work in cut and gem-encrusted jade is priceless. The Chinese had cut jade for ages, but never ornamented it except by sculpture ; but when it was introduced into India, the native jewellers, with their quick eye for colour, at once saw what a perfect ground it afforded for mounting precious stones, and they were the first to encrust them on jade. The Indian Museum possesses the choicest and grandest specimens of this work known, of the best Mogol period [Plates 56 and 57]. They were exhibited at the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
