Bellini's profile portrait of Mehmet sniffing a rose isa masterpiece of cross-cultural exchange: Mehmet appears as a civilised ruler rather than a threat, yet in its colour and composition this portrait is unmistakably the handiwork of a Venetian master, testament to the city's artistic pre-eminence.
Inscribed with the name Nur Jahan, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahangir, this heart-shaped diamond is believed to have been a gift from the ruler to his son, who became the great emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666).