A rare and important post-sasanian or early Islamic silver ewer, Persia, 8th century

of pear-shaped form standing on a tall waisted foot, the tapering neck rising to an open flattened spout, the body decorated in relief with six female figures holding hands with incised details to faces and clothing, with a tall grape vine in the backround, between two rows of repeating spherical beads, the neck with an incised band of geometric motifs, the scrolling handle surmounted by a globular thumbpiece attached to neck and body by terminals in the shape of animal-heads

In fairly good condition, base of foot replaced and original fragments soldered onto restored base, the body with a break near the bottom with associated repair, original crack visible, handle re-attached, as viewed.
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This silver ewer, of elegant pear shaped form on a tall, splayed stand, decorated with six female figures wearing elegant long ornate coats holding hands, presents an amalgam of styles and features associated with the early Islamic period.

Within two decades of the Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632, the lands under Islamic rule encompassed a vast area, from Southern Spain in the West to North India in the East, and united multiple cultures which brought with them their own visual repertoire and traditions. It is interesting to examine the present ewer within this context and to look at the various influences involved in its production.

First, its shape finds parallels in a number of Sasanian vessels in museum collections. A silver-gilt ewer in the Metropolitan Museum (inv. no. 67.10) also has a pear-shaped body, slender mouth and tall splayed foot, with animal head terminals on its handle (illustrated in: Harper 1978, pp.60-61, no. 18). Derived from late antique forms, this shape appears to have been popular during the Sasanian period; the goddess Anahita holds a similar ewer in her hands on the rock reliefs of Khusrau II (591-628) at Taq-i Bostan (Harper 1978, p.60). Another silver-gilt ewer, now in the Shumei Culture Foundation in Japan, attributed to the late Sasanian period, around the seventh century AD, is of a similar shape, with stylised vegetal decoration throughout, and a handle also terminating in animal head motifs (illustrated in: New York, 1996, p. 78, no.32).

The design of the female figures can also be traced back to ancient forms, and features on Sasanian, Hellenistic and Roman objects as well as in Central Asian depictions. The ewer mentioned earlier, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 67.10), is also decorated with dancing figures, dressed in long-sleeved costumes, but of a more suggestive, tight-fitting nature. Another ewer, in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, inv. no. S1987.117, also features such figures involved in expressive dance gestures (illustrated in: Gunter and Jett 1992, p. 194, no.35).These have been linked to Graeco-Roman “bacchantes”, the Zoroastrian goddess Anahita and her priestesses, as well as the Zoroastrian concept of den: “the soul’s accomplishments in the material world…personified as a ‘beautiful female form’” (Gunter and Jett 1992, p. 196 and Harper 1987, p.61).

Rather than presenting contradictory imagery, the links made to both of these traditions is indicative of the important exchange of ideas and artistic motifs taking place at this time. To this mixture, one must also look towards Central Asia, to the trading networks along the ‘Silk Roads’ running through the Gobi desert towards Uzbekistan and more southerly, towards Afghanistan.  Frescoes from a cave originally in Kizil near Kucha, Xnjjiang, China, dateable to the fifth to sixth century, illustrate a series of figures referred to as “Tokharian Donors”, which can also be compared to those on the present vessel (now in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Museum fur Indische Kunst, inv. no. III 8426 a,b,c, illustrated in: Roxburgh 2005, pp.50-51, no.5). Even though the figures depicted are men, they are illustrated in a three-quarter pose, with their heads all looking one way, with stylised proportions in a manner comparable to those on the present ewer. Furthermore, each wears a different coat, decorated with ornamental pearl bands, crosses and of multiple colours. These give us an indication of the lavishness of the coats that the women on this ewer are wearing, their patterns and designs indicated through punched and incised motifs.

Finally, further parallels can be found in the eighth-century wall paintings of Qasr al-Hair al-Gharbi near Palmyra, Syria and in Qusair ‘Amra in Jordan, both of which are informed and influenced by the late Antique and Sasanian artistic canon (Clévenot, Degeorge 2000, pp.126-129). This ‘accumulation of images’ as described by Dominique Clévenot and Gérard Degeorge, formed “[…] a sort of artistic booty whose fate Islam had not yet decided (ibid, p.129)”. Also, it is important to mention that the grape vine arising behind the figures is similar to that on a glass beaker in the David Collection, Copenhagen, inv. no. 17/1964, and attributed to Iran or Iraq, ninth-tenth century. This early period in the formation of Islamic art is fascinating not only for its appropriation of existing artistic traditions, but also for the way that it lays the ground for the future development of Islamic art.

A ewer, dated to the ninth to tenth centuries, and attributed to the metalworking centre Basra, has a similar, pear-shaped form with a curvilinear handle indicating that this shape continued to be produced into the Abbasid period (Freer and Sackler (Smithsonian Museum), inv. no. F1945.13). Also, a similar decorative repertoire endured into the twelfth century and includes ceramic examples such as a Kashan moulded dark blue-glazed pottery jar depicting dancers in relief, dated to the twelfth century (sold in these rooms on 14 April 2010, lot 142). The catalogue entry notes the painterly qualities of its design and the rhythmic movement of the dance in which the figures are involved, formal aspects that are also visible on the present design.