Elephant Armour Coaster – Peacock
Wield historical armour to make watermarks and table rings a thing of the past with our Elephant Armour coaster.
The arms and armour collection at the Royal Armouries acts a great source of inspiration for us and provides endless ideas for new product design. This coaster has been inspired by the incredibly rare elephant armour featured within our museum. The plates featured on this armour have been adorned with motifs of peacocks, lotus flowers, elephants and fish.
Our coasters are made in heat, stain and scratch resistant melamine with 3.2mm hardboard and cork backing.
Dimensions: 95mm x 95mm
The elephant armour (bargustavan-i-pil) dates back to around 1600 and was brought from India by Lady Clive, wife of Edward, 2nd Lord Clive (Governor of Madras), to England in 1801. It is said to be the largest animal armor found on display in any museum. Now-endangered, Asian elephants were first used on the battlefield in India, and famously in the 326 BC Battle of the Hydaspes between Alexander the Great and India’s King Porus in modern-day Pakistan.
There were many military purposes for which elephants could be used. In battle, war elephants were usually deployed in the centre of the line, where they could be useful to prevent a charge or to conduct one of their own. Their sheer size and their terrifying appearance made them valued heavy cavalry. Off the battlefield, they could carry heavy materiel and provided a useful means of transport before mechanized vehicles rendered them mostly obsolete.
