A circular gold plate enamelled in various colours with intricate floral patterns, animals and roundels depicting two palaces in Jaipur – the Chandra Mahal and the Jal Mahal.

The Chandra Mahal, or ‘Moon Palace’, was built in the eighteenth century and is made up of seven storeys. The palace now houses the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II museum and the private apartments of the current Maharaja of Jaipur. The Jal Mahal, or ‘Water Palace’, is located in the middle of Man Sagar Lake. Today, only the top storey of the five-storeyed palace is visible as most of the eighteenth century palace is submerged below the lake.

The technique of enamelling had been introduced in India in the late sixteenth century by European craftsmen based in Portuguese Goa. The Mughal emperor Akbar (r.1556–1605) sent his court craftsmen to learn the technique, which later spread to the nearby courts of Rajasthan. Enamelling was, and is still, used in India to embellish a range of objects such as jewellery, vessels and swords. An enamelled object, such as this salver, would have involved the work of four craftsmen: a designer to draw the enamelled pattern, a goldsmith to form the object out of gold, an engraver to incise the designer's pattern onto the surface of the object and an enameller to apply the various colours. Each colour is carefully applied and fired separately. Enamels from Jaipur are particularly renowned for their use of red enamel, which is applied last as it has a lower resistance to heat. This particular salver was enamelled by Ram Singh, one of the leading enamellers of the time, and took four years to make.

Enamellers from Jaipur used a distinctive red enamel were very popular amongst Europeans visiting or living in Jaipur, and they were often presented as gifts to visiting dignitaries. These works were praised for their richness in colour, delicate workmanship and intricate design.