FILTER RESULTS × Close
Skip to Content ☰ Open Filter >>

An African elephant and mahout

Showing 1 of 1


An African elephant and mahout


Creation date: ca. 1700
Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting
Medium and Support: Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection
Accession Number: 1990.505
State/Province: Tamil Nadu
Dimensions: 3 15/16 in. x 5 23/32 in. (10 cm x 14.5 cm)

Provenance

Sevadjian, Paris, France ( - March 20, 1961)

Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France (March 20, 1961 - March 20, 1961)

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (March 20, 1961 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

February 2020
Elephant in the Room
(Ladan Akbarnia)
This portrait of an elephant and his keeper contains the exhibition’s only representation of an African elephant, identified by its large, fan-shaped ears. It brings to mind two recorded instances of embassies from East Africa (historic Abyssinia) arriving at the court of the Mughal emperor Awrangzeb (r. 1658–1707) with African elephants. The striated lines of the mahout’s robe and the texture of the elephant’s skin have been compared stylistically to works found in an album commissioned in Tamil Nadu by the Italian doctor Niccolao Manucci (1639–1717), who also spent several years at Awrangzeb’s court.
Last Updated: 4/4/2022

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Elephant in the Room: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art , 00/00/00 - 00/00/00

Elephant in the Room: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art , 00/00/00 - 00/00/00

Persian and Indian Miniatures from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 9/28/1962 - 11/29/1962

The Mughal and Deccani Schools: Indian Miniature Painting from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd The Portland Art Association , 12/2/1973 - 3/7/1976

The Elephant in the Room: Indian Paintings from the Edwin Binney 3rd Collection The San Diego Museum of Art , 2/29/2020 - 7/18/2021

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. The Mughal and Deccani Schools Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1973
Page Number: 175, Figure Number: 150

Art Persan: Hôtel Drouot. Paris, France, March 20, 1961
Page Number: Lot no. 96

Dr. Edwin Binney, 3rd. Persian and Indian Miniatures, Portland Art Museum. Portland, Oregon, 1962
Page Number: 37 no. 66


Submit a question or comment about this object



Showing 1 of 1


Your current search criteria is: Object is "An African elephant and mahout".