Two Indo-Islamic cast brass zoomorphic aquamaniles, North West India, probably 17th century

both cast by the lost wax technique and both with pierced apertures at the mouth, the larger, heavier figure with pierced udders, punched and engraved roundels on the front and rear haunches and further incised designs around the neck and to the head, the smaller animal inscribed at the shoulder in Arabic script with maker's or owner's name Hamad al-....(?)

Mark Zebrowski was the first scholar to bring to the attention of a wider audience this rare group of early Indo-Islamic metalwork that combines indigenous forms from the Hindu tradition with elements in the Persian manner inspired by Sultanate and Mughal culture. Both of these aquamaniles are far distant relations of the celebrated bovine aquamanile from Khurasan in the Hermitage, dated A.H.603/A.D.1206 (Kuwait 1990, no.39), but their specifically Indian origin is asserted in their characterful naturalism and forceful monumentality.  The eight-pointed star on the haunches of the larger animal is found on other animal-form metal objects dating to sixteenth-century North West India, see Zebrowski 1997, no.95, p.98.  A sixteenth/seventeenth-century brass horse from the group was sold in these rooms, 30 April 2003, lot 114, published by Zebrowski 1997, no.119, p.106.