Claimed 4th to 8th century
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ancient-Roman-Byzantine-Lead-Elephant-c-4th-8th-century-AD-/291153217910?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ca158976
The costume is classic Hellenistic art style.
Roy
Intriguing. No howdah
Jim
not sure that the condition could be highlighted as being 'perfect' - a very subjective description!
I might suspect 18th c ::)
The provenance would be interesting...
Well I looked at the seller's history and other sales and they look good. He is selling a collection and appears to be ready to stand behind its authenticity
Also, the figure's costume is right for the period they claim and would be a lot less right for 1000 years later.
If you knew of other lead elephants from the 18th century that would place this in a typology, then that would make a case, but so far there is nothing to say that the vendor is describing this piece wrongly.
Roy