Indian Silver Elephant-Handle Footed Bowl Attributed to Oomersi Mawji

This extraordinary, heavy footed bowl, possibly a punch bowl, was made by the celebrated Indian silversmith Oomersi Mawji, although it shows no maker’s marks. Works by Mawji were not always stamped with his maker’s marks. The exquisite quality of this bowl, the trademark well-observed elephants, and the fact that other near-identical bowls that are stamped with the O.M. cameo mark are known, all point to this bowl also being by the famed maker.

The bowl stands on a round, domed foot. A short stem decorated with a leafy fringe, rises to a well-conceived hemispherical bowl, with a handle on each side form as a caparisoned elephant’s head, with trimmed and decorated tusks.

The realism with which the elephant heads have been portrayed cannot be overstated.

The foot and the bowl are chased with cusped arches infilled with typically Kutch flower and leafy scrolls. This is augmented on the body of the bowl with several types of pairs of birds (including peacocks) in alternating cartouches.

The bowl is in excellent condition. This is an exceptional piece.