A SILVER-INLAID BRASS BOWL Iran, 12th – 13th...
A SILVER-INLAID BRASS BOWL
Iran, 12th – 13th century
Of hemispherical shape, on a splayed circular foot, the exterior finely decorated with a band of silver-inlaid animated script, below it another band of foliate Kufic calligraphy alternated with rosettes, 17.5cm diam. and 10cm high.
Provenance: Acquired in 1960s – 1970s in Iran and in the UK since 1981.
This bowl shares several stylistic and decorative elements with the Wade Cup of the Cleveland Museum of Art (purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1944.485). Both are designed with hemispherical bodies rising from a circular splayed foot, but most importantly, they showcase a very clear example of the so-called animated script, typical of the Seljuq period (11th – 13th century). There are several variants of this script, some involve the use of birds’ heads, some of animal heads, and some of human heads as in this case. The common thread is that the figural decoration is always added to the longer and tall shafts of the letters, only rarely to the lower end (Eva Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art, 1983, p. 201). Maryam Ekhtiar explains that scholars have provided a multitude of interpretations for the meaning of this script. Some believe that it emerged from a strong figural tradition, characterising the art of the Seljuq period. Others trace its origins to literature, specifically to the waq-waq tree mentioned in Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), the ultimate Iranian national epic. Still others read its development as a testimony of the frequent cultural exchanges between Iran and neighbouring Christian regions in the Caucasus, such as Georgia, where the initial letters of words in illuminated manuscripts were frequently embellished and transformed into vegetal and anthropomorphic forms (Maryam Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy, 2018, p. 120).
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A SILVER-INLAID BRASS BOWL
Iran, 12th – 13th century
Of hemispherical shape, on a splayed circular foot, the exterior finely decorated with a band of silver-inlaid animated script, below it another band of foliate Kufic calligraphy alternated with rosettes, 17.5cm diam. and 10cm high.
Provenance: Acquired in 1960s – 1970s in Iran and in the UK since 1981.
This bowl shares several stylistic and decorative elements with the Wade Cup of the Cleveland Museum of Art (purchased from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1944.485). Both are designed with hemispherical bodies rising from a circular splayed foot, but most importantly, they showcase a very clear example of the so-called animated script, typical of the Seljuq period (11th – 13th century). There are several variants of this script, some involve the use of birds’ heads, some of animal heads, and some of human heads as in this case. The common thread is that the figural decoration is always added to the longer and tall shafts of the letters, only rarely to the lower end (Eva Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art, 1983, p. 201). Maryam Ekhtiar explains that scholars have provided a multitude of interpretations for the meaning of this script. Some believe that it emerged from a strong figural tradition, characterising the art of the Seljuq period. Others trace its origins to literature, specifically to the waq-waq tree mentioned in Firdawsi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings), the ultimate Iranian national epic. Still others read its development as a testimony of the frequent cultural exchanges between Iran and neighbouring Christian regions in the Caucasus, such as Georgia, where the initial letters of words in illuminated manuscripts were frequently embellished and transformed into vegetal and anthropomorphic forms (Maryam Ekhtiar, How to Read Islamic Calligraphy, 2018, p. 120).
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