A Deccani bronze spouted bowl, India, Golconda or Bidar, 16th century

of squat baluster form with a shallow neck and broad mouth, a curved and tapering spout pinned around an aperture in the neck, the flattened base encircled by a splayed ridge, the chased decoration comprising five registers of cursive calligraphy on a hatched ground around the body, two further registers around the neck and neck interior, the base interior with a roundel of cursive calligraphy encircled by a band of cursive calligraphy, the exterior with three narrow bands of stylised lotus petals and two of interlacing strapwork

In good overall condition, some surface patination, spout loose, as viewed.
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Inscriptions

Qur'an, suras CIX (al-Kafirun); CXII (al-Ikhlas); CXIII (al-Falaq); CXIV (al-Nas) and the Nada Ali quatrain.

Inside the rim:

The Shi'i shahada followed by: "There is no youth [as brave as] 'Ali, no sword [as sharp as] dhu'l-faqar", ending with an invocation to God.

On the spout:

Qur'an, sura XII (Yusif), part of verse 64, and "There is no youth [as brave as] Ali, no sword [as sharp as] dhu'l-faqar"

This vessel is amongst the finest of a small group of Deccani metalwares united by their bold use of calligraphic decoration. The text on the interior base of this piece is the same in both content and execution as that found on the interior base of one of the other major pieces in this group, a lota now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Zebrowski 1997, p. 210, no.327 and p.339, no.556) that is considered to date from the sixteenth century and attributed to Golconda. The very close similarity of the base elements of these two pieces strongly suggests that they come from the same workshop and are, perhaps, by the same hand.

At some point between 1424 and 1427, Ahmed I (r.1422-36) moved the Bahmani capital from Gulbarga to Bidar. This coincided with a greater interaction with and interest in the Central Asian and Iranian worlds. The change in political and cultural axis gave the upper hand at the Bahmani court to the Afaqi faction, the recently immigrated Arabs, Persians and Turks, over the Dakhnis, longer established in the region and generally of Indian descent. This change in attitude was reflected in a greater awareness and receptiveness to artistic traditions from these regions.

Another significant shift resulted from the actions of Ahmed I. He invited Shaykh Khalilullah, the Persian spiritual leader, to the Deccan. Khalilullah played a significant role in the popularisation of Shi'ism in this region. The Shi'ite inscriptions on this piece are one of the features that distinguish it as coming from the Deccan rather than elsewhere in India.

The vessel has the sense of a ritual rather than functional object that is emphasised by its Qur'anic inscriptions. These employ the monumental thuluth that characterises the decoration of this group of metalwork. This form of calligraphy also appears in the architectural decoration on many of the mosques and mausolea of the Deccan. Its origins are in Mamluk and Ilkhanid Qur'ans and this conservative trait is another characteristic of this group of vessels. 

Pouring vessels of this form have been assumed to have the purpose of decanting wine from larger containers. Indeed, a 14th-century inlaid brass wallet from Persia in the Courtauld Collection, London, sometimes known as the "Gambier-Parry wallet", has a scene in which a pouring vessel of this type is in such use (Baer 1983, p.119).  Vessels of this form are known from the Golden Horde and, more numerously, from Mamluk Egypt (St. Petersburg 2000, p.212, no.112, and Allan 1982, p.100-101, no.21, respectively).  In both these traditions the scale is smaller than with the present vessel.  A rare Timurid example formerly in the K. K. Osterreichischen Handels-Museum, Vienna, has a date of 1487-88 (Komaroff 1992, pp.223-224, no.32). Another Timurid example suggests that the proportions of the vessels in this period had increased (Christie's, 24 April 1990, lot 429). Allan mentions that in the Safavid period, pouring vessels of this form are used as bath pails, which may account for their increase in size from the 15th century (op. cit., p.100).  As discussed above, the Qur'anic texts on the present example would seem to indicate that if it was intended for ablutions they were of a ritualistic rather than secular nature.