This graceful falcon is a tour de force of enameling. It features the delicate and rare pink enameling characteristic of Benares (Varanasi), as well as white, translucent mottled light brown, opaque yellow and shaded yellow, and opaque powder blue enameling. The separately fashioned silver repoussé columnar base, on stylistic grounds perhaps slightly later in date or by a different artist, also incorporates translucent green, opaque light green, and translucent blue enameling. A design register encircling the mid-base includes lively representations of a powder blue elephant and a yellow antelope. The bird of prey is depicted as if perched on a falconer’s protective gauntlet, ready to take flight for the hunt. Falconry is traditionally a pastime of royalty believed to have originated in the Middle East or Central Asia. Numerous Sultanate and Mughal portraits of royal falconers document the sport’s high status. Varanasi’s sophisticated enameling traditions drew upon Mughal artistic antecedents, but its renowned pink enameling is traditionally thought to have been introduced in the late 18th century by the arrival from Kabul, Afghanistan of Kaisar Agha, who was likely familiar with the renowned pink enameling of the Iranian Qajar dynasty (1789-1925). Pink enameling remained a specialty of Varanasi, although its use spread over time to Delhi and certain other locales in a limited manner.