Live Auction 5702Christie's Interiors - Style and Spirit
CEYLON INTEREST: A PAIR OF ELEPHANT FEET HUNTING TROPHIES CONVERTED INTO TRAVELLING DECANTER STANDS WITH ELECTROPLATED MOUNTS
Lot 316

CEYLON INTEREST: A PAIR OF ELEPHANT FEET HUNTING TROPHIES CONVERTED INTO TRAVELLING DECANTER STANDS WITH ELECTROPLATED MOUNTS

CIRCA 1901

Closed18 May 2010

Price Realised

GBP 4,375

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CEYLON INTEREST: A PAIR OF ELEPHANT FEET HUNTING TROPHIES CONVERTED INTO TRAVELLING DECANTER STANDS WITH ELECTROPLATED MOUNTS
CIRCA 1901
One with three cut-glass decanter bottles, the other with two decanters and a covered rectangular cigarette compartment with tooth handle, the hinged mounts unlock for access to the decanters, the front of one applied with ivory plaque inscribed TAMANKADUWA DISTRICT CEYLON.1901
17¼ in. (43.9 cm.) high (2)

Specialist note

Hunter and author Harry Storey details his hunting expeditions in his 1907 book Hunting and Shooting in Ceylon, "I have met elephants in other parts of Ceylon and seen their tracks, but none compare for a moment with the Tamankaduwa wila breed" (Storey, Hunting and Shooting in Ceylon, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1907, p. 110). The present lot is an example of the most prized part of one hunter's kill. Storey recalls, "Of trophies to be secured from our elephants, the feet rank first...They will make fine footstools, liquor stands, or if cut long in the leg, umbrella stands" (p. 109).