An Extremely Rare Deer Head Ink Bottle and Stand

Cutch, India, circa 1880

Overall height: 6.5 cm

Height of bottle: 4.5 cm

This splendid silver ink bottle and stand with an attached cast and chased head of a deer with naturalistically rendered antlers is of a form not before encountered or published in Cutch work. Both the bottle and base of the stand have been repoussed with scrolling foliage and flowers. The bottle has a tight-fitting repoussed hinged lid and sits snugly in a raised niche on the stand; the stand having three silver ball feet. A remarkable example of the syncreatic nature of Indian colonial silverwork.

SOLD