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120
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Important Mughal powder flask in carved ivory with hunting s…
See original version (French)
120
-
Important Mughal powder flask in carved ivory with hunting s…
See original version (French)
Estimate €15,000 - €20,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Important Mughal powder flask in carved ivory with hunting scene
India, Imperial Mughal art, circa 1650-1680
Elephant tusk° carved in high relief. The tip is treated as a complex zoomorphic group formed of gazelle heads emerging from three felines in full assault, jaws open. The body of the horn takes the form of a continuous hunting scene in which dogs and wild animals race among deer and rabbits. Chased silver mounting at the neck, two suspension rings and retaining chain holding the stopper; braided carrying cord.
Condition: stopper attached, slight age wear.
L. 27 cm (10.6 in.); B.P. 260 g.
Provenance:
French private collection, by descent, Mrs C., Aix-les-Bains, before 2021.
Related works:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 07.71) ;
Historisches Museum, Dresden, collection of Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony, entered before 1658 (no. 439).
David Collection, Copenhagen, Inv. no. 1/1974.
Bibliography :
A. Okada, L'Inde des Princes, Musée Guimet, 2000, pp. 64 and 65;
Splendeur des Armes orientales, Acte-Expo, 1988, p.106.
°Elephant spp (Elephantidae spp) ivory specimen declared under n°FR2407512074, in accordance with the AM of 4 May 2017 allowing the commercial use of antique Elephantidae ivory. If the ivory is to be exported from the EU, a CITES re-export permit will be required, which will be the responsibility of the future buyer.
This type of zoomorphic powder flask in carved ivory is one of the most prestigious products of the Mughal workshops of the 17th century, where the art of princely hunting found its most refined expression.
hunting found its most refined expression in accessories
accessories worthy of the imperial arsenal. The hunting scene
The hunting scene that unfolds on the body of the piece, peopled by dogs and wild animals in a common race, translates into miniature sculpture the great iconographic repertoire of the Mughal painting albums devoted to hunting, a favoured genre of the courts of Akbar (d. 1605), Jahangir (d. 1627) and Shah Jahan (d. 1666).
The presence of several comparable examples in the
in European Kunstkammerns from the mid-seventeenth century onwards
century - notably the one in the collection of
Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony before 1658 - attests to the early
the early enthusiasm of the European courts for these
these exceptional accessories, considered to be
They were considered to be marvels of princely exoticism, and were kept in Dresden, Copenhagen and New York among the most prized pieces in collections of oriental decorative arts.
An important Mughal carved ivory powder horn with a hunting scene, elephant ivory carved in high relief: the spout sculpted as a complex zoomorphic group of gazelle heads emerging from pouncing felines, jaws open; the curved body developed in a continuous hunting scene of dogs and wild beasts amid deer and hares, India, c. 1650-1680.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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