Rare portion of a Jain temple threshold from a temple – India – 18th century

Beautiful finely sculpted, engraved and inlaid marble panel. The fragment was part of a more complex architectural structure and adorned the threshold of a Jain temple. The decoration engraved and then filled with colored elements evoked the decoration present in the court palaces of the empire which, with the insertion of hard, precious and semi-precious stones into the marble, created a unique artistic chromatic effect. In the center of the panel there is a beautiful and large shell generated by a floral spiral. The sanka, the shiny newt (Charonia tritonis), one of the ritual elements that make up the domestic altar, idealizes divine symbolism in itself. Some geometric decorations are engraved on the marble and filled with lime-based mortar colored mustard yellow, Pompeian red and ebony.
In good condition and with a beautiful patina of age in the places where the fragment is intact; the left and right sides have undergone a mechanical cut and show the marble grain without oxidation.
India, 18th century
32.5 x 31 x 6.5 cm

The panel is accompanied by an ALC (Certificate of Free Circulation) issued by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities.