Unknown
Platecirca 1700-1750

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Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Plate
Place Made: India, Maharashtra, Pune (?)
Date Made: circa 1700-1750
Medium: Silver, repoussé
Dimensions: H: 7/8 in. (2.22 cm) x Diam. 8 3/8 in. (21.27 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Harry and Yvonne Lenart
Accession Number: AC1993.136.1
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: This lavishly decorated plate is a tour de force of silver repoussé and openwork. In the center is a two-tiered floral and vegetal medallion with narrow concave borders separating the tiers. Encircling the medallion is a raised concentric band of alternating deltoid-shaped leaves and star-cluster flowers with a pointed apex. Issuing from their pinnacles is a lush field of alternating flowering plants and cypress trees embossed in low relief against a stippled background. The decoration of the central plane is completed by a plain narrow border and twisted cable border. A band of concave fluting forms the vessel walls. The rim is a pierced design of crossed curvilinear palmettes with a plain flat border for the edge. A bilingual inventory number is incised on the bottom.

Several of the design motifs help locate the plate’s place of origin. The dense vegetation is a decorative hallmark of the metalware produced throughout the south-central region of India called the Deccan, while the concave fluting is particularly characteristic of metalware from Pune and adjacent central India. The palmettes around the rim are more generic, however, as they are often featured in Islamic and Indo-Islamic manuscripts.

The plate was originally made for serving betel nut quids, sweetmeats and other delicacies, and for presenting ceremonial presents or offerings.

Unknown
Platecirca 1700-1750

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Unknown
Platecirca 1700-1750

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