Inventory

INDIAN STIRRUPS

Full Description:

These stirrups are well-preserved and undeniably possess a certain architectural quality in both their decorative style and structure.

At the top of each stirrup is a rectangular slot which would have held straps, enclosed above and below by beaded copper lines and surmounted by a lobed arch, as if to give the appearance of the entrance to a tomb or temple. Beneath this formation is a stylised lotus flower in bloom, appropriately centred between the stirrups’ sloping arches which terminate in drooping lotus buds. The arches recurve downwards and are carefully cut with raised crests and edges formed of large beaded mouldings. Though the vast majority of the stirrups’ surfaces retain their gilding, the interiors reveal their copper core to convey a pleasing colour contrast.

The treads are cut at their edges with the same beads that line the arches, and at the centre of each is a flattened rivet head which secures the architectural features that hang from the stirrups. These comprise a pierced and engraved gallery which forms the inverted base for a bulbous fluted dome, surmounted by a discus with circumferential beads and a lotus-bud finial.

Few comparanda are known, though a similar pair are published in Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour: A Lifetime’s Passion.[1] Its resemblance to Deccani tombs of the 16^th and 17^th centuries applies also to our own example.

Provenance

Private European collection