Bronze zoomorphic ritual oil lamp with bird. - Lost wax bronze casting - India - 18th-19th century

Zoomorphic ritual oil lamp in bronze with bird – Northern India / Indo-Islamic sphere, 18th-19th century

Rare and fascinating suspended oil lamp in cast bronze, crafted in a zoomorphic form with an elegant stylized bird, probably a peacock or another symbolic bird, modeled with great plastic strength and richly engraved with burin. The animal's body serves as an oil reservoir, decorated with a dense pattern of dotted motifs, wavy lines, and circular cartouches, while the head, elongated and proud, exhibits an archaic yet sophisticated expressive rendering. Attached to the main structure is a solid chain with a terminal hook, confirming its use as a suspended or ritual lamp. The pierced spout and the long, pierced element clearly indicate the function of a traditional oil lamp, with technical solutions typical of archaic pre-industrial productions.
By style, iconography, and technique, the object can be attributed to northern India or the Deccan area, within a strongly Indo-Islamic context permeated by older local traditions, where animal symbolism continues to coexist with the Islamic taste for abstract ornamentation. The most plausible dating is between the 17th and 18th centuries, a period during which such lamps were used both in noble domestic settings and in devotional or ceremonial contexts.
The patina is ancient, compact, and coherent, with stratified oxidations and authentic signs of use that attest to its age and long functional life, without evident invasive restorations.