Mirror back

This white nephrite mirror back is ornamented with gold and foil crystals (rock crystals with colored foils placed beneath them, embedded in a surface to imitate gemstones). The central panel is surrounded by two borders, the inner embellished with a row of foil crystals, the outer incised and inlaid with gold chevrons.

Though they believed that jade vessels could detect poison, the Mughals considered jade only a semiprecious material. To enhance jade to be worthy of royal use, the Mughals decked it with precious metals and semiprecious stones.