Crutch Handles with Antelope Heads

This is an extremely rare, Deccan, cast bronze zoomorphic crutch handle or "Zafer Takiya" (cushion/throne of victory) from North Karnataka. Crutch handles of this type were often mounted with dagger blades, but are also seen in images of the time associated with Fakirs and Hindu mendicants or ascetics. In this piece, two adorsed black buck heads with spiral horns are cast in the round. On the shaft are two smooth knops with a central twisting wrythen that echoes the spirals of the black buck horns.