A RARE SILVER WINE GOBLET, NURISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, 19TH CENTURY

A RARE SILVER WINE GOBLET, NURISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, 19TH CENTURY

the wide bowl with stylised repousse leaf design, the rim with embossed geometric and floral decoration, on flared foot, 21cm high; 22.5cm diam.

For a very closely related example of this unusual type in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, see inv. no. 1980.8.3. In the entry for their goblet on the museum website, it is noted that these very rare silver vessels were produced as dowry pieces in what was then known as Kafiristan, before the forced conversion of the population to Islam. See https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-26209 . Another similar goblet from the Pip Rau collection was previously sold in these rooms: lot 98, 6 February-1 March 2026. An interesting feature of this example is the floral decoration on the rim, partly obscured which suggests that the silver was reused from an Mughal silver object or vessel.

From the Collection of Pip Rau
For an introduction to the collection, please see Lot 1 in this sale

Condition Report:

Various dents throughout, old repairs to worn and cracked areas around rim.