1880-1890 Repousse Silver Shikaar Bowl Lucknow, India (1800+ grams)
$38,000.00
Easily the best piece of Indian silver in the marketplace today for both size and quality. Rare ca 1890 Indian colonial silver rose bowl made in a classic Lucknow style and this is the finest I've seen. Of high-grade silver, it has been repoussed and chased with an elaborate and thrilling hunting scene, all in varying and high relief. At one point, a shikari clings to the elephant saddle as the others draw guns to repel a tiger which has beset their elephant. A second elephant has attacked. Other mahouts look on from the saddle. In another scene, a ferocious boar careens at a rearing leopard. In a third, a man attacks a boar from a bucking horse with a long traditional spear. The elephant party returns triumphant with the tiger now dead. They managed to also fell a deer and both animals hang swinging from respective elephants. One man points at the sun, now low over the horizon. Elsewhere a lion has felled a man who fights helplessly from his back in a glen. Another man has drawn his dagger against a tiger. At the bottom of the bowl encircling the foot is a virtual menagerie of separated animals: A dog with fowl in mouth, a walking bear, a tiger attacking a boar, an Indian deer, a prowling leopard, a jackal.
The entire bowl is framed within interspersed palm and other trees which typifies Lucknow style silver. Foliate bands of repousse and geometric boundaries adorn the bowl at the lip, bottom of the body, and at the foot. Coriander leaf band encircles the bowl. The myriad flower types belie the purpose of this unusual piece which was to float flowers blossoms for display or as a vase.
Weight is 1800+ grams. A superb example of the craftsmanship of the Indian silversmith. Condition is excellent with a fine finish. Museum quality piece of the highest magnitude. Dimensions of this piece are about 10" x 11.5 x 11.5”. It is not watertight and may well have had a liner of some sort.
The bowl is signed with Sanskrit maker's marks on the foot-- not yet identified.
A related but far less fine bowl is referenced in Dehejia, Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj (2008, p. 176-77). A comparatively coarse bowl in the "Hunting pattern" is referenced in Wilkinson, Indian Silver 1858-1947 (1999, p. 135)
Check out some of my other sterling Indian silver here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP?ref=search_shop_redirect§ion_id=38398103
Or just browse around the shop!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP
Easily the best piece of Indian silver in the marketplace today for both size and quality. Rare ca 1890 Indian colonial silver rose bowl made in a classic Lucknow style and this is the finest I've seen. Of high-grade silver, it has been repoussed and chased with an elaborate and thrilling hunting scene, all in varying and high relief. At one point, a shikari clings to the elephant saddle as the others draw guns to repel a tiger which has beset their elephant. A second elephant has attacked. Other mahouts look on from the saddle. In another scene, a ferocious boar careens at a rearing leopard. In a third, a man attacks a boar from a bucking horse with a long traditional spear. The elephant party returns triumphant with the tiger now dead. They managed to also fell a deer and both animals hang swinging from respective elephants. One man points at the sun, now low over the horizon. Elsewhere a lion has felled a man who fights helplessly from his back in a glen. Another man has drawn his dagger against a tiger. At the bottom of the bowl encircling the foot is a virtual menagerie of separated animals: A dog with fowl in mouth, a walking bear, a tiger attacking a boar, an Indian deer, a prowling leopard, a jackal.
The entire bowl is framed within interspersed palm and other trees which typifies Lucknow style silver. Foliate bands of repousse and geometric boundaries adorn the bowl at the lip, bottom of the body, and at the foot. Coriander leaf band encircles the bowl. The myriad flower types belie the purpose of this unusual piece which was to float flowers blossoms for display or as a vase.
Weight is 1800+ grams. A superb example of the craftsmanship of the Indian silversmith. Condition is excellent with a fine finish. Museum quality piece of the highest magnitude. Dimensions of this piece are about 10" x 11.5 x 11.5”. It is not watertight and may well have had a liner of some sort.
The bowl is signed with Sanskrit maker's marks on the foot-- not yet identified.
A related but far less fine bowl is referenced in Dehejia, Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj (2008, p. 176-77). A comparatively coarse bowl in the "Hunting pattern" is referenced in Wilkinson, Indian Silver 1858-1947 (1999, p. 135)
Check out some of my other sterling Indian silver here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP?ref=search_shop_redirect§ion_id=38398103
Or just browse around the shop!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP
Easily the best piece of Indian silver in the marketplace today for both size and quality. Rare ca 1890 Indian colonial silver rose bowl made in a classic Lucknow style and this is the finest I've seen. Of high-grade silver, it has been repoussed and chased with an elaborate and thrilling hunting scene, all in varying and high relief. At one point, a shikari clings to the elephant saddle as the others draw guns to repel a tiger which has beset their elephant. A second elephant has attacked. Other mahouts look on from the saddle. In another scene, a ferocious boar careens at a rearing leopard. In a third, a man attacks a boar from a bucking horse with a long traditional spear. The elephant party returns triumphant with the tiger now dead. They managed to also fell a deer and both animals hang swinging from respective elephants. One man points at the sun, now low over the horizon. Elsewhere a lion has felled a man who fights helplessly from his back in a glen. Another man has drawn his dagger against a tiger. At the bottom of the bowl encircling the foot is a virtual menagerie of separated animals: A dog with fowl in mouth, a walking bear, a tiger attacking a boar, an Indian deer, a prowling leopard, a jackal.
The entire bowl is framed within interspersed palm and other trees which typifies Lucknow style silver. Foliate bands of repousse and geometric boundaries adorn the bowl at the lip, bottom of the body, and at the foot. Coriander leaf band encircles the bowl. The myriad flower types belie the purpose of this unusual piece which was to float flowers blossoms for display or as a vase.
Weight is 1800+ grams. A superb example of the craftsmanship of the Indian silversmith. Condition is excellent with a fine finish. Museum quality piece of the highest magnitude. Dimensions of this piece are about 10" x 11.5 x 11.5”. It is not watertight and may well have had a liner of some sort.
The bowl is signed with Sanskrit maker's marks on the foot-- not yet identified.
A related but far less fine bowl is referenced in Dehejia, Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj (2008, p. 176-77). A comparatively coarse bowl in the "Hunting pattern" is referenced in Wilkinson, Indian Silver 1858-1947 (1999, p. 135)
Check out some of my other sterling Indian silver here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP?ref=search_shop_redirect§ion_id=38398103
Or just browse around the shop!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DCSILVERSHOP