A carved ivory plaque with a courting couple, South India, 18th century

comprising two plaques set together, carved in relief and engraved, depicting a courting couple within an architectural interior, mounted on wooden base

The Palace of Mysore, Karnataka.
Ex-collection Pierre Jourdan Barry.

the two plaques each with four drill holes, carved in relief with some vertical hairline cracks in ivory, some minor nicks to surface, the edges uneven, minor discoloration to front, the reverse very discolored with scratchs and marks, outline of Indian gentleman drawn, part seems to have been stained (a vertical crack along edge of one), the other also with small crack, as viewed.
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This intricate low relief carving on ivory depicts a courtly couple relaxing under a fringed canopy within a pavilion supported by baluster shaped columns. It constitutes one of several remaining plaques that were used in the construction of ivory doors for the palace of Mysore in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Stylised designs of courtly couples such as this one would have adorned the eight compartments of each door surrounded by a floral border. As a result of the significant damage suffered by the palace of Mysore in the centuries since its construction in the fourteenth century, its remaining interior decoration was dismantled and dispersed.

Comparable carved plaques are located in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (inv. no.RVI415), and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (inv. no.82.083).