AN ENGRAVED AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE JUG Khorasan or Sistan, Eastern Iran, 12th - 13th century

AN ENGRAVED AND SILVER-INLAID BRONZE JUG Khorasan or Sistan, Eastern Iran, 12th - 13th century Of bulbous shape, resting on a widely splayed, bell-like foot with a cylindrical, short stem, rising to an almost conical neck with a wide, everted rim, the exterior and rim area enhanced with vegetal and strapwork engravings and profuse silver inlays, the main decorative motifs including interlocking arabesque medallions, crescent moon roundels, foliate and knotwork bands, stylised rosettes, and Kufic calligraphic bands, often characterising Medieval bronze vessels of Eastern Iran, 20.5cm high. The crescent moon roundels, the Kufic calligraphy on a vegetal scrolling ground, and the baluster-like shape of this jug show a degree of affinity in terms of both decoration and design to a jug attributed to the late Khorasani period in the Ghazni Museum (A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World: 8th - 18th centuries, 1982, p. 65, fig. 31). In the same publication, a cast bronze mortar (havan) features analogous crescent motifs filling roundels scattered across several overlapping bands on the exterior (ibidem, p. 109, fig. 40), further supporting the link between this often-inlaid lunar pattern and a Medieval Eastern Iranian attribution.Click here to share: