Mughal Jade Backscratcher

India
18th century (the hand)
18th/19th century (the cane)
Jade, gemstones, turquoise, silver gilt, painted and lacquered wood
93.3cm long
Stock no.: A5749

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A jade back scratcher (pushtkhar) in the shape of a hand, mounted on a long shaft of lacquered wood. This back-scratcher was made within the Mughal empire, probably in the late 18th century. Rings of emerald and ruby adorn the thumb, index, ring, and little finger, whilst a bejewelled bracelet, with carved details imitating pearls, encircles the wrist. The lacquered cane is approximately contemporaneous, but may be a replacement of an original jade or bone handle. Dense floral patterns are painted onto the wood, and shellac is applied to give depth and sheen. A gilt emerald-inset collar joins the handle and the hand.

Though the use of these backscratchers has been debated, they appear to have ties to Sufism. The following is written in an 1823 book on Sufi mysticism:
‘Most Faqīrs never carry with them anything save a crooked stick or a piece of iron, sometimes painted…a back-scratcher (pushtkhār), like an artificial hand, made of some metal with a handle, with which they scratch themselves.’¹Furthermore, a Mughal miniature in the collection of the British Museum (accession no. 1999,1202,0.3.3) dated to the 18th century shows a Kanphat Yogi, a member of a Hindu acetic order, carrying out a religious ceremony in the women's quarter of a palace. In his left hand he holds a flywhisk, and in his right he holds a gold back scratcher with hand finial.
Several detached hand finials are held in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (see accession nos 1265-1874, 1269-1874, 1266-1874) and a complete back scratcher made with an 18th century hand and later terminal (see accession no. 1268-1874). A fine nephrite jade back scratcher in the Al Thani Collection in Paris, purportedly owned by Robert Clive, is dated to the mid 18th century.² The hand is a similar shape with jewelled rings and bracelet, but the thumb ring is not decorated with an emerald.
This back scratcher comes from The Vertical Art Collection of canes and walking sticks, gathered by an anonymous collector. The collection is published in Vertical Art: The Enduring Beauty of Antique Canes and Walking Sticks (Hudson Hills Press, 2008) although the present back scratcher does not feature.

n.b. accession nos are clickable links

¹ Sharif, Ja’far. Islam in India or the Qānun-i-Islām Customs of the Musalmāns of India. Abingdon: Routledge Library Editions, 1832/2018. p. 293.
² Stronge, Susan. Bejewelled Treasures: The Al Thani Collection. London: V&A Publishing, 2015. Cat 38, p. 83.

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