Two very rare English carved oak pew-end finials, each in the form of an elephant and castle 15th century or earlier

each with a palanquin in the form of a castle, the first with fruit and vine decoration to both sides, the second with portcullis decoration to the castle with similarly carved trunk, ears and saddle, velvet covered stands later (2)

Illustrated C. Avery, The Distinguish'd Elephant, forthcoming (2009)

Very rare indeed. Superb patination. Traces of worm throughout. Each castle with aperture to the top. Wear to various components.
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These carved elephants relate closely to a bronze elephant dated as late 15^th/early 16^th century and sold European Sculpture and Works of Art, these rooms, 9^th July 2008, lot 36.

The iconography of an elephant with a howdah filled with warriors strapped to its back was born from Alexander the Great's battle with King Porus's war elephants at the battle of Hydaspes in 326 BC.  The motif was popularized in European art through the dissemination of Bestiaries (medieval natural history texts of moralizing Christian tales).  Very few live elephants are documented in Europe in the medieval period and, as such, their depictions are often more imaginary than naturalistic. Matthew of Paris's manuscript illumination of an elephant in his Historia major (Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, MS 26, fol. 151v) depicts the animal with a trumpet-like trunk extending outward and legs without knee joints, which was how elephants were believed to look.  A later illustration by Paris, painted after he saw the live elephant that Louis IX of France gifted to Henry III of England (Chronica, British Library, MS Cotton Nero D.1, fol. 161v) is much closer to the realistic anatomy of elephant.

The present elephant was carved by a craftsman who had never seen an elephant in the flesh. It is similar to an engraving by Martin Schongauer, who also does not appear to have ever viewed the actual animal.  Their models are imagined and fanciful and show the animal of lore, not fact, which according to legend lived three hundred years, had a nose like a snake, could not get up when it fell over and could carry a wooden tower on its back.  

For other depictions of Elephant pew-ends in England see G. C. Druce, The Archaeological Journal, 2^nd series, Vol. XXVI, 1919, p. 65, pls. XIV-XV, examples in Willian (Hertfordshire), Chester and Ripon Cathedrals. For very early carved examples on misericords (without a tower) see Christa Grössinger, The World Upside-Down, English Misericords, London, 1997, pp. 136-137.. The example in Exeter cathedral is dated to the 13^th century. For another example, and in this case with a tower, see the carved front of a boarded oak chest from the 14^th century St. Mary's Hall, Coventry, engraved by Herbert Shaw, Specimens of Ancient Furniture, London, 1836, pl. XXIV. Also see a throne from the same hall in Coventry which has a finial similar to the offered lot and is illustrated in an engraving also by Shaw (op. cit. pl. VIII). The elephant and castle is an important symbol for Coventry as it features on the ancient armorial bearings for this city. It has not been possible to establish where these evocative finials have come, but perhaps a medieval centre such as Coventry would be a sensible suggestion.

RELATED LITERATURE
J. Block Friedman and K. Mossler Figg, Trade, Travel and Exploration in the Middle Ages, New York, 2000, pp. 175-8; The Parker Chronicle, 4, 2008, p. 2-3; J. Chipps Smith, German Sculpture of the Later Renaissance c. 1520-1580, New Jersey, 1994 p. 401-4