KOTA TRIBE, TAMILD NADU, SOUTH INDIA, CIRCA 1850-1875

The large discs are attached to the horns of the sacrificial animal whilst the central element hungs between its legs. Cattle are sacrificed on the occasion of family deaths and rites of passage as well as at frequent festivals. As noted by Stuart Cary Welch in India, Art and Culture, 1300-1900, "no photographs showing such trappings in use have been found, perhaps because of the sanctity of the occasions on which they were used" (op.cit, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1985, cat.41, p.85-7). Similar trappings are also published in Mughal Silver Magnificence, exhibition catalogue, Charleroi, 1987, cat.67, p. 76.
Others were sold at Christie's New York, lot 1015, 20th November 1995.