MUGHAL INDIA, 17TH CENTURY

Details

AN IVORY POWDER HORN
Mughal India, 17th century
Of bow shape carved in high relief, the mouth with a double gazelle's head, the gazelles being attacked by felines, the other half of the flask divided into rectangular cartouches containing birds, terminating in a peacock carved in the round, the animals' eyes highlighted with stained ivory, original brass stopper, generally good condition
8½in. (21.6cm.) long

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Lot Essay

A number of comparable pieces to this powder horn are known, some of which can be traced in European inventories to the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. A particularly elaborate example was in the collection of Prince Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony in 1658, while one in Denmark which is very similar to the present example is noted in an inventory of 1737 (Skelton, Robert (ed.): The Indian Heritage, Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, London, 1982, nos.439 and 440, p.135).

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