LOT 0300

Medieval Wooden Bench Finial in the Form of an Elephant and Castle

ENGLAND, 15TH CENTURY A.D.

13 1/2 in. (1.31 kg total, 34.2 cm including stand).

Carved stylised elephant with elongated ears supporting a palanquin in the form of a castle with a carved cross, foliage motif to the reverse; mounted on a velvet-covered stand.

Private collection, Europe.
Acquired on the English art market.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13088-248391.

Cf. Sotheby’s, Haute Epoque, London, 29 October 2008, lot 336.

The image of an elephant carrying warriors in a howdah originated from Alexander the Great's battle against King Porus's war elephants at the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC. This motif became widely known in European art through the spread of Bestiaries which were medieval texts combining natural history with moralising Christian stories. One of the most well known was Matthew Paris’s imagined depictions of elephants, most notable in this case is his war elephant illustrated in Chronica maiora II, circa 1240-1255 (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 016II). Another well known manuscript - The Rochester Bestiary, circa 1230-1240 (British Library, London, Royal MS 12 F.xiii) contains a miniature with a war elephant in the midst of battle, above another image of elephants supposedly in their natural habitat. Since very few live elephants were seen in Europe during the medieval period, their representations were often more imaginative than realistic. Other Medieval bench end carvings of elephants in English churches are known, amongst them are: St Peter and St Paul, Tuttington, Norfolk; St Andrew, South Lopham, Norfolk; St Edmund, South Burlingham, Norfolk; St Andrew, Holme Hale, Norfolk. Elephants can also be found on misericords, some examples can be found at: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, Exeter; Cathedral Church of St Peter, Gloucester; and St Mary's Church, Beverley.