The porcelains that once gleamed in Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai’s family homes reveal his lesser-known side as a deliberate collector. Now offered to the public for the first time, the Estate takes us back to 19th-century Bombay, when his Malabar Hill mansion stood as a social landmark. Within its halls, his studied collections—porcelain foremost among them, alongside books, clocks, and silverware—were displayed and admired by the city’s elite.
“He wasn’t limited in his interests… he had books on porcelain. He studied what he was buying.” — Family recollection
Chinese Porcelain
At the heart of Sir Mangaldas's collection was Chinese Porcelain. Porcelain originated and was perfected in China, where generations of potters, across two millennia, transformed clay and fire into vessels of luminous beauty that travelled across continents and entered the world’s finest homes. In Bombay too, such works spoke of status, refinement, and connection to a global tradition.
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Famille Rose Late Qing / Early Republic Chinese Porcelain Garden Seats
Garden Seats
Among the most memorable pieces in the estate are a pair of Chinese porcelain garden seats. In Qing times, such seats were prized for their versatility — used both indoors and in courtyards, admired as much for their decoration as their function. Their glazed surfaces often carried auspicious motifs, signalling luck, longevity, or prosperity.
In the Mangaldas household, however, they became part of family life. As one descendant recalled:
“And the garden seats, we would sit on as kids, you know. Every time they took the plants off to water them, we would sit on them. I think they even put plants on top to stop us from climbing onto them all the time.”
That memory captures perfectly how objects of refinement, brought halfway across the world, settled into the rhythms of a Bombay home — at once ornamental and familiar, heirlooms and everyday companions.
Of Jars and Vases
Famille Rose Late Qing / Early Republic Chinese Porcelain Ginger Jar
Chinese porcelain jars were long regarded as emblems of prosperity, continuity, and refinement. In the Mangaldas collection, one yellow-ground ginger jar is especially remembered. Its radiant surface — a colour once reserved for imperial taste in China blooms with peonies, symbols of wealth and honour, and chrysanthemums, emblems of resilience and long life.
Nanking Famille Verte Qing Dynasty (Kangxi Period) Chinese Porcelain Vases
If the jars spoke of harmony and fortune, the monumental vases told stories of triumph. A pair of large Famille Verte vases in this estate depicts animated battle scenes — riders on horseback, banners raised, drums sounding. Though time has left them chipped, their presence remains commanding, capturing the drama of Qing courtly taste and the power of porcelain as a medium for storytelling.
Famille Rose Late Qing / Republic Chinese Porcelain Laughing Buddha (Budai)
Alongside these stood lighter, more playful forms. The Laughing Buddha, crafted in porcelain, was remembered by descendants as a companion. This porcelain figure, glazed in vivid famille rose enamels, captures Budai with a chain of coins in hand, an emblem of wealth, while his robe, patterned in yellow with stylised shou symbols, invokes longevity and enduring life.
“We would rub his belly before a test, for good luck,” one recalled, capturing how such figures carried hope and humour into everyday life.
Japanese Satsuma
Satsuma ware, first developed in southern Japan under the Shimazu clan in the 16th century, flourished during the Meiji and Taishō periods. Recognised for its warm crackled ground, delicate enamels, and gilded storytelling, it became one of Japan’s most admired artistic exports. Within Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai’s collection, grand Satsuma pieces stood alongside Chinese porcelain, reflecting both a global curiosity and a discerning eye.
Meiji Period / Taisho Period Japanese Satsuma Floor Vases
In the Mangaldas estate, monumental floor vases depict scenes of courtly life, with figures in traditional dress set against pavilions and landscapes. Their rooster-form handles, heavy with symbolism linked in Shintō belief with the sun goddess Amaterasu and the return of light.
Meiji Period Japanese Satsuma Planters on Stands
The companion planters, rich with scenes of aristocratic life demonstrate the dense ornament and storytelling detail typical of late 19th-century Satsuma ware. The imagery of prosperous households, parasol bearers, and seasonal landscapes carried auspicious associations of harmony, continuity, and longevity. At the same time, their production reflects Japan’s engagement with the West during the Meiji period, when ceramics became a major export shown at international exhibitions and eagerly collected abroad.
The Estate of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai
This auction marks a rare moment in India: a collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelains with impeccable provenance, preserved across generations of one of Bombay’s leading families. These works stand out for their authenticity, their history, and their place in the private world of Sir Mangaldas Nathubhai; one of the foremost philanthropists and social reformers in 19th century Bombay.
