Lot Essay
This bird is a very rare survival of pre-Sultanate Indian bronze sculpture. In its form it combines ideas that originate from both India and Islam.
The form of the body and the engraved divisions of the wing are easily paralelled in the 12th century Khorassan bronzes (cf. lot 296 in this sale). The treatment of the head as a sphere also derives from the same source. Yet the large fan tail attached and the application of a second wing are not to be found there. These, coupled with the considerably better balanced legs all indicate a greater desire for some sort of realism than is shown by the sculptors of Khorassan. The link between Khorassani and Indian bestial sculpture has clearly been shown in the footnote to lot 276. The attachment of the wings seen here is a feature that becomes more pronounced in later Deccani bronze birds. An unpublished example in a private collection that dates probably from the 16th century has similarly attached larger and more naturalistic wings with indications of feathers in the trailing edges. These later Deccani birds are also to be found with high combs similar to that on the Khorassani bird also in this sale, lot 276, showing another link between the sculpture of the two areas.
The tail has obvious parallels in the polycandela of the Islamic West (Al-Andalus, the Art of Islamic Spain, exhibition catalogue, New York 1992, no.8, p.207). This Western Islamic influence also makes itself felt in the monumentality of the body; while Khorassan pieces tend to stylise forms to their extremes, the body here, particularly the way the breast is given the indication of division before the legs separate, is closer to figural sculpture from Islamic Spain.
Islamic Indian Art of this period is extremely rare. It is a subject that has been very scantily researched. This peacock provides one of the few indications of the high level of craftsmanship available in the subcontinent during this time.
The form of the body and the engraved divisions of the wing are easily paralelled in the 12th century Khorassan bronzes (cf. lot 296 in this sale). The treatment of the head as a sphere also derives from the same source. Yet the large fan tail attached and the application of a second wing are not to be found there. These, coupled with the considerably better balanced legs all indicate a greater desire for some sort of realism than is shown by the sculptors of Khorassan. The link between Khorassani and Indian bestial sculpture has clearly been shown in the footnote to lot 276. The attachment of the wings seen here is a feature that becomes more pronounced in later Deccani bronze birds. An unpublished example in a private collection that dates probably from the 16th century has similarly attached larger and more naturalistic wings with indications of feathers in the trailing edges. These later Deccani birds are also to be found with high combs similar to that on the Khorassani bird also in this sale, lot 276, showing another link between the sculpture of the two areas.
The tail has obvious parallels in the polycandela of the Islamic West (Al-Andalus, the Art of Islamic Spain, exhibition catalogue, New York 1992, no.8, p.207). This Western Islamic influence also makes itself felt in the monumentality of the body; while Khorassan pieces tend to stylise forms to their extremes, the body here, particularly the way the breast is given the indication of division before the legs separate, is closer to figural sculpture from Islamic Spain.
Islamic Indian Art of this period is extremely rare. It is a subject that has been very scantily researched. This peacock provides one of the few indications of the high level of craftsmanship available in the subcontinent during this time.