Colonial Indian Cutch Silver Tankard

Fine Chased Silver Tankard

This unusually fine silver tankard with gently tapering sides and hinged lid is chased all over with scrolled foliage and flowers. Hunting scenes intersperse the foliage. The chasing and engraving work of these scenes has a charming naive quality which suggests an earlier dating to around 1840 rather than a typical dating for Cutch work of between 1880 and 1920.

The lid has a domed, architectural quality and has an outer border of stylised acanthus leaves. It is surmounted by a finial that is similarly decorated.

The handle is perhaps the real

tour-de-force of this piece: it is elegantly proportioned and executed and compares favourably with later Cutch tankards that employ ‘S’ shaped cobra motifs as handles (see Dehejia, 2008, p. 146 for an example.)

The tankard is heavy-in-the-hand. It is in excellent condition with no dents or splits.

UK art market

Dehejia, V., Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj, Mapin, 2008.