Indian Kutch Chased Silver Arabian-style Coffee Pot

Colonial Kutch silver coffee pots in the shape of the Middle Eastern dallah coffee pots are comparatively rare. Most such colonial silverware produced in Kutch was made to order for colonial British clients. But the shape of this coffee pot suggests the underlying links that Kutch had with traders from Oman and the rest of the Middle East for whom such a form is indigenous.

The coffee pot has a flattened, bulbous base with a low, plain foot. A long neck gives rise to a domed, hinged lid surmounted by a Mughal-esque finial, and a wide, open spout.

The handle has a prominent ‘S’ form with two buffalo bone bone insulators.

The pot is chased all over with typically Kutch floral and leaf scrollwork against a ring-mat background. A deer being assailed by two hunting dogs, a maned lion standing over an antelope, and an elephant triumphing over a tiger are interspersed amongst the foliage.

Overall, this is a splendid piece of silverwork in an unusual form. It is in excellent condition. There are no maker’s marks.