- Title
- Panel with Composite Animals
- Date Made
- 19th century
- Medium
- Ivory with traces of paint; wood frame inlaid with ivory
- Dimensions
- 5 1/2 x 11 7/8 x 1/2 in. (13.97 x 30.16 x 1.27 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.80.226.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Images of composite animals have a long heritage in South Asian art. Sculpted images appear as early as the 2nd century BCE at Sanchi, while painted portrayals survive in Jain manuscript illustrations from as early as the 15th century. As postulated by Robert J. Del Bontà, there were two major iconographic traditions followed in Indian painting in the 16th–19th centuries: "Hindu" representations typically feature animals and methods of conveyance composed of human figures, and "Mughal" composites incorporate humans, various animals, and demons.
LACMA’s openwork ivory panel depicts two composite animals set in lobed cartouches. On the viewer’s left, is an elephant composed of nine women (navanari kunjara) being ridden by a female archer. On the right, is a horse composed of nine women (navanari ashva) being ridden by a crowned male archer. Both groups of women are playing musical instruments. The central interstices between the cartouches are filled with the auspicious image of addorsed peacocks in the lower reserve and a stylized tree with a canopy of spreading branches that forms the central axis of the composition. The peripheral interstices are solid ivory and painted with symmetrical flowering plants. The wooden frame is embellished with a flowering vine.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Elephants and Ivories in South Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.