A silver-gilt mounted agate bowl, early 17th Century.

The bowl, of grey agate with brownish markings, is mounted on a plain silver-gilt foot with a twisted wire rim. Like many such pieces in the Collection, it was probably from Cambay on the west coast of India, which was a flourishing trading port and, as it still is today, the centre of the Indian hardstone industry. It was also most probably part of the huge bequest from the Countess of Devonshire to her daughter Anne, Countess of Exeter, recorded in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule, though it is not specifically itemised.