A SILVER AND GILT-SILVER STANDARD FINIAL OF A MAKARA


NORTH INDIA, RAJASTHAN, 1800-185010 5/8 in. (27 cm) long
|Remarkably conceived and executed, the makara's yawning mouth reveals an articulated tongue, jagged silver teeth, and a curling snout redolent of a fruit peeling open. The eyes are heightened by inset glass and surface by reptilian scales worked with bands of punched designs. This makara head would have formed the finial of a processional standard, serving as a royal insignia in Rajasthan. A related gilt copper fish standard (mahi) employed by the Kotah Royal Court shares similar tooling of the scales (Beach, Gods, Kings and Tigers, Zurich, 1997, p.210, no.68). Additionally, a stylized dragon head on the royal hunting barge of Maharoa Arjun Singh shows the importance of animals as protective devices (ibid., pp.19 & 20, no.19). Provenance Pierre Jourdan-Barry Francesca Galloway, London, 2013