- Title
- Noblemen and Noblewomen in Medallions
- Date Made
- 17th century
- Medium
- Patinated ivory
- Dimensions
- 2 1/8 x 9 5/8 x 1/8 in. (5.4 x 24.45 x .32 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.75.59.2
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This low relief plaque, and a close mate formerly in the Binney Collection, likely once adorned the exterior of a wooden jewelry box or a similar type of small casket mounted with ivory panels. The horizontal composition presents four elegantly attired figures seated in medallions in the form of lobed cartouches. The stereotyped figures alternate male and female. The two sari-clad women each hold a nosegay, a symbol of cultural sophistication. The two turbaned men each hold a parrot, long regarded in Indian literature as wise storytellers and companions. The women and one man are shown in profile facing to the viewer’s right. The second man’s face is shown in three-quarters view, an earlier mode of representation often favored in Islamic painting and Imperial Mughal portraits prior to the reign of Jahangir (r. 1605-27). The interiors of the medallions surrounding the figures are embellished with sprays of poppy flowers that seemingly float in space. The interstices between the medallions are decorated with stylized pendent poppies along the top edge and alternating tigers and deer along the bottom. The central three animals are depicted prone with all four legs extended, while the deer in the corners are shown standing erect on their hind legs and touching their nose to the ground. This atypical posture was probably designed in order to accommodate the constrictions of the limited space. Surrounding the entire scene is a thick border of open blossoms.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Elephants and Ivories in South Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.