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Here you see a war elephant in miniature, finely worked but with absolutely no practical purpose – in fact, a typical treasury item! Like so many other exhibits in the Green Vault, this exotic object was produced by Georg Christoph Dinglinger, the brother of the famous court jeweller Johann Melchior Dinglinger, or his school.

This pachyderm is carrying a fantastic watchtower on his back. There are cannon between the turrets. You might expect the tower to be decorated with martial motives, but, on the contrary, the enamel medallions on the sides of the tower bear the traditional symbols of love and hope – the enflamed heart and the anchor – in four variations. Crowning the top of the tower is a flag, also executed in the finest enamel technique. You can see tiny angels on the flag. They are diving into the sea, in an attempt to escape the cannon-balls and flames. The ironic inscription, in French, is hardly decipherable with the naked eye: “Sauve qui peut” – “Save himself, who can!”

A Mohr is riding on the neck of the elephant and guiding it.  Parts of the little fellow’s arms are missing. So is his feather headdress. This happened when the object was put into storage during the Second World War.