Surfacing on the market: Gift for an Ottoman sultan

This bejewelled 18th-century Ottoman casket in the form of a mosque, which is expected to fetch between £50,000 and £70,000, is heavily decorated with precious stones including rubies, emeralds and garnets. It is also highly detailed in its architectural forms, featuring minbars, shrines, minarets and altars, with tiny candlesticks modelled as though on the inside of the windows. The lid is dome-shaped and bears some resemblance to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, but the amalgamation of elements from baroque Turkish buildings suggests that the craftsman may not have been of Ottoman lineage. The casket is thought to have been made as a gift for Muhmad I, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754, as it bears his tughra, or official seal.