Not so fast, Victor3. I've had an order in for one of those Tiger Cannons, actually a tiger mortar for quite some time now. It's a tiger, not a lion and it's sculptured image is a part of the Sultan Tipu's artillery, because he was commonly known as the Tiger of Mysore, a region he ruled in southern India and adopted this animal as a symbol of his rule until he was killed in Battle in 1799 at the end of the fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Now I like the Tiger Cannon featured prominently in paintings of the 3rd and 4th wars and shown in the Wiki segment on Tipu Sultan, linked here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipu_Sultan After the conclusion of the 4th war, the Scots in India learned of the wonders of Tipu Sultan's armories and bronze foundries which are detailed here:
http://www.tigerandthistle.net/tiger116.htm Gary, I/m changing my order to One Replica, Sultan of Mysore, Bronze Tiger Cannon with all details shown in the following photo by John Hill of a Tiger Cannon used in the battle of Seringapatam by Tippu Sultan's forces in 1799, flanked by two Tiger Mortars of the same scale, suitable for display in my new office at Seacoast World Headquarters in Colorado, USA, say......1/2 scale. Gary, Victor is anxious, which means you need to get working on my "Sultan" guns, chop - chop. After all, we don't want to keep Victor waiting now do we?
Tracy
Ain't she beautiful? Photo by Robert Hill shown in this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Tipu_SultanClick image for a fantastic, larger view.
A note on the carriage. This iron garrison carriage is the product of the East India Company's Gun Foundry at Cossipore, a suburb of Calcutta. It was made during that time around 1848 when Captain Arthur Broome of the Bengal Artillery was in charge of the foundry.
A close-up of the trunnion face, tiger head. Photo attributed to Anne Buddle, Ref.:
http://www.tigerandthistle.net/tiger116.htm