Colonial Indian Gilded Silver Tray with Boar Hunting Scenes

This round, tri-lobed tray of gilded, solid silver, has been chased with exceptionally fine hunting scenes, amid tight floral and leaf scrollwork that is very typical of Kutch silverwork in the second-half of the 19th century. It stands on three rococo-style feet, and it has been gilded. The gilding is thickly applied but its tone has softened in time giving it a pleasing gentle hue.

The tray is chased with boar hunting scenes, including of one with a hunter assailing a charging bull, another with a lion attacking a boar, and another of three running boars, all around a central, circular, plain cartouche.

The tray was intended either as a drinks tray, or perhaps was meant to be purely decorative.

It is unsigned but the work is suggestive of that of the workshop of Oomersi Mawji, India’s most celebrated silversmith of the second half of the 19th century.

The tray is also unexpectedly heavy for its size, with plenty of silver having been used, further suggesting its quality.

The tray is in excellent condition.