Deel van een geborduurde portière before 1874

This embroidered textile panel, created by Isabel Agnes Cowper, presents a fascinating array of symbols. Here we see a rich tapestry of Indian officers, female figures, temples, and elephants. This recalls the symbolic weight of the elephant – a motif resonating from ancient Hindu iconography, where Ganesha embodies wisdom and obstacle removal, to its presence as a symbol of imperial power in various cultures. One notes the siege of Goa portrayed in the center, its imagery intertwined with scenes of knights struggling ashore, echoing the epic struggles found in classical mythology and Renaissance allegories. The power of such symbols lies in their ability to evoke intense emotional states, tapping into our collective memory. These motifs, like migratory birds, traverse time and cultures, evolving yet retaining their primal potency.