Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets

A Khurasan silver-inlaid ewer, Herat, 12th century

VAT applies to hammer price and buyer's premium

Auction Closed

October 26, 12:30 PM GMT

Estimate

200,000 - 300,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

constructed of sheet metal, beaten, engraved and inlaid with silver, of characteristic form with cylindrical faceted body with twelve sides, tapering upwards and supported on a short waisted foot, the flattened shoulder joined to the neck by a sunburst moulding inlaid with a calligraphic band, the narrow cylindrical neck decorated with two repoussé lions sejant, the faceted spout with a repoussé lion couchant, faceted tapering handle, the body engraved and inlaid with twelve cusped cartouches filled with zodiacal signs reserved on a ground of scrolling split-palmettes, knot pendants and rosettes, bands of calligraphy above and below, the shoulder with a band of running quadrupeds, the handle with engraved rope motif

35.2cm. height

This lot should have a dagger symbol in the printed catalogue. VAT will be charged at 20% on the hammer price, although in appropriate circumstances the VAT may be cancelled or refunded. Please refer to the printed catalogue for further VAT information.

Inscriptions:

Around the top:

bi’l-yumn wa a/ wa al-dawlah

‘With good-fortune and wealth’

Around the shoulder, in cursive:

al-izz wa al-iqbal wa al-dawlah wa al-sa’adah wa al-shifa’ah wa al-tammah wa al-‘inayah wa al-qina’ah wa al-diyanah wa al-ta’yid wa al-shukrah wa al-ziyadah wa al-baqa li-sahibihi

‘Glory and prosperity and wealth and happiness and (Prophet’s) intercession and plenitude and sympathy and contentment and virtue and (God’s) support and gratitude and growth and long-life to its owner’

Around the body, upper band, in Kufic:

bi’l-yumn wa al-barakah / wa al-dawlah wa a/l-salamah wa al-ta/mmah wa al-sa’adah/ wa al-shifa’ah wa al-z/iyadah (?) wa al-tammah/ wa al-nusrah wa al-r/ahah wa a/l-tammah / wa al-shukrah wa a/l-ta’yid wa al-baha’ (?) / wa al-baqa da’im li-sa/hibihi

‘With good-fortune and blessing and wealth and well-being and plenitude and happiness and (Prophet’s) intercession and growth and plenitude and victory and ease and plenitude and gratitude and (God’s) support and splendour and long-life to its owner’

Around the body, lower band, in cursive:

al-izz wa al-iqbal / wa al-dawlah wa al-z/iyadah wa al-rahmah/ wa al-‘inayah wa al-r/iyasah wa al-rahah / wa al-ta’yid wa al-riyadah wa al-qina/’ah wa al-‘inayah / wa al-shukrah wa al-zinah (?) wa al-shakirah/ wa al-ni’mah wa al-da/wamah wa al-baqa d/

‘Glory and prosperity and wealth and growth and mercy and sympathy and dominion and ease and (God’s) support and abstemious and contentment and sympathy and gratitude and elegance and gratefulness and (God’s) grace and endurance and long-life’

The present example belongs to a group of astrological brass ewers attributed to Herat, Afghanistan, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. See for example the 'Tiflis ewer' in the Georgian State Museum, Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi (inv. no.19-2008:32), that was "made by Mahmud ibn Muhammad of Herat in the month of Sha'ban 577" (19 December 1181-17 January 1182 AD). The ewers from this group share stylistic as well as decorative features and often include benedictory inscriptions, sometimes dedicated to an anonymous owner. Ewers with similar zodiacal signs can be found in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, inv. no.ИР-1436, the Louvre Museum, Paris, inv. no.OA 5548, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no.44.15, and the British Museum, London, inv. no.1848,0805.1,2. Ewers of closely comparable form and decoration are in the Keir Collection (see Fehérvári 1976, plate 16 no.53) and the Victoria & Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani 1982, nos.45 & 75).