Jade terrapin
- Audio guide stop: 636
- Gallery: Room 43
- Culture: Mughal dynasty
- Made in: India (historic - pre-1947)
- Date: 1600 (circa)
- Object type: figure
- Materials: nephrite
- Museum number: 1830,0612.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you stands a remarkable Jade terrapin, a life-size figure carved from a single block of green nephrite. Under careful observation, you'll see this piece is the work of a highly skilled hand. Every scale, curve, and contour on the terrapin has been intricately detailed—so much so that experts have been able to identify it as a female Kachuga dhongoka, a local species of Indian terrapin.
This figure comes from the Mughal dynasty and is thought to have been crafted around the year 1600 in northern India, possibly as a decorative element for a palace garden. Green nephrite, the jade-like material used, was highly prized and likely sourced from the distant Xinjiang region, now in Central Asia. This stone was brought on a long and dangerous journey across mountains and deserts.
The carving was done with tools fitted with diamonds, making this a work of immense patience and prestige. Such craftsmanship speaks to the high status of its commission.
See it in person
Jade terrapin is on display in Room 43 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 636, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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