Two Elephants in Combat (1700–1730): Art, History and Details

Two Elephants in Combat (1700–1730) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Elephants were prized possessions for the Rajput Maharajas of Rajasthan. Not only were elephants a decisive factor in the battlefield, but also represented the owner’s material wealth. Elephant fights were a favorite amusement of the Maharaja, and certain elephants were trained specially for this purpose. The drawing depicts two elephants in combat with each other with their trunks intertwined.

Object facts

• Title: Two Elephants in Combat
• Date: 1700–1730
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Kota
• Type: Painting
• Technique: ink on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 35.6 x 53.4 cm (14 x 21 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.178

A detail from the museum

The elephants have been shackled at their back feet to keep them from running free.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.