Incense burner

Object Details

• Description

  Lion with right foreleg resting on the head of an elephant. The two animals stand on a round platform with low sides and a scalloped edge. The platform is pierced with two small holes to either side of the lion.

• Provenance

  From the 1960s

  Mr. F. Momtaz (died 1985) and Mrs. F. Momtaz, Iran, Paris, and London, from the 1960s [1]

  To 1991

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, London, to 1991

  From 1991

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from John Lawrence Fine Arts in 1991

  Notes:

  [1] According to Mrs. F. Momtaz, the object was in the collection of her husband, a prominent dealer in Islamic art, during the 1960s. She and her husband left Iran in about 1950 and moved to Paris; around 1960 they moved to London, where, until his death in 1985, Mr. Momtaz had a gallery near Portobello Road (see Curatorial Note 3 in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Masterworks of Indian Painting (December 13, 1997 to June 13, 1998)

  At the Margins (June 4 to November 30, 1997)

  South and South East Asian Art (May 9, 1993 to February 7, 2000)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. and Mrs. Mozaffar and Farokh Momtaz

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, Inc. (active mid-1980s-1990s)

• Origin

  India

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  John Lawrence Fine Arts, Inc., Momtaz, Mozaffar and Farokh

• Place

  India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Cats, Art, Animals, Sculpture, Incense, Delhi Sultanate (1206 - 1526), Metal-work

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)