- Title
- Four Corner Pieces of a Throne with a Leonine Creature (yali or vyala) Subjugating an Elephant
- Date Made
- 17th century
- Medium
- Patinated ivory
- Dimensions
- 3 7/8 x 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 in. (9.84 x 8.57 x 8.57 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.80.232.8a-d
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Each of these throne or seat corner pieces depicts a leonine creature (yali or vyala) with a radiant mane, bulging eyes, and a gaping mouth with pointed teeth. The leonine creatures are shown subjugating an elephant, which is represented with a common head shared by two pachyderm bodies carved in profile on the right-angled exteriors of the corner pieces. Flying cherubs help trample the kneeling elephant while holding the leonine creature’s reigns (now damaged on some pieces). There are minor differences between the four corner pieces in the stylistic treatment of the physical forms and in a few of the inconsequential iconographic details, suggesting that two artists each created two of the pieces, but the overall similarities are so close that it is clear that all four pieces belong to the same set.
Imaginary composite creatures are popular pictorial motifs in South Asian painting and sculpture. As illustrated here, a shared head uniting two similar bodies, or alternatively two different bodies with a shared head whose identification depends on the viewer’s perspective, were common visual puns used as architectural decoration in south India.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Elephants and Ivories in South Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.