INDIA, POSSIBLY GUJERAT, 15TH CENTURY OR EARLIER

There has been a tradition of carved figural chesspieces in Northern India since at least the 12th century. A magnificent piece in the Cabinet des médailles in the Louvre shows an elephant mounted by a ruler in a howdah, surrounded by a number of outriders on horses (Welch, Stuart Cary: India, Art and Culture, 1300-1900, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, no.72, p.127). That piece is without parallel in published collections around the world; its origin is helped by the inscription in kufic on the underside (Khnel, Ernst: Die Islamischen Elfenbeinskulptured VIII-XIII Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1971, pl.VII and base inscription on pl.VI). Smaller similar pieces, ascribed to 'the Islamic East, 8th/9th century' also illustrated by Khnel are even closer in style to the present figure (pl.VI). In addition to these pieces there is one in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (Europa und der Orient, exhibition catalogue, Berlin, 1988, no0, pp.578-9) and one sold in these Rooms 26 April 1994, lot 337. None of thse pieces have the drummer on the back of the elephant seen here; most have a single warrior on a horse. Elephants always have a mahout in front, but with the exception of the present piece, the main figure is always a warrior.

There are various features on the present piece which indicate it is a slightly later Indian piece than its Persian and central Asian forebears. The base is rectangular, the headdress of the major figure is more of an Indian turban than the flatter headdresses seen on the 12th century Persian pieces. The rounded 'horns' of the elephant's head are garlanded as one sees in Indian miniatures. The eyes of the main figures have followed the Indian tradition and been portrayed more prominently. And the piece has much more vitality than is apparent in most of the earlier pieces, conforming much closer to the Indian portrayal, as is indeed seen in the Louvre piece mentioned at the beginning.