WESTERN IRAN OR ANATOLIA, 15TH CENTURY

This is an extremely rare type of 15th century helmet made in Iran and Anatolia during the Timurid period. They are usually associated with the Aqqoyonlu (White Sheep) Turkman period in the second half of the 15th century. Under Uzan Hasan (ruled 1466-78) their rule was extended from their original stronghold in the region of Diyabakir to Herat and Baghdad. The dynasty was finally crushed by the Safavids in 1502. Many of these helmets must have been taken as booty by the Ottomans at the battle of Otluk Beli in 1473, when the entire Aqqoyonlu baggage train was captured and sent to Istanbul, thereby entering the Ottoman arsenal of St. Irene where they acquired the Arsenal mark. Many pieces entered European collections after 1839, when the new sultan Abdul Mecid ordered the clearing of the arsenal.

A very similar example inscribed with the name of Sultan Ya'qub, son of Uzan Hasan, who ruled from 1478-90 is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Rogers Fund 04.3.211). Like the present example, it has a band of tapering vertical fluting between inscription bands, though these are inlaid with silver. The arabesques and cursive inscription relate the helmet to book illustration of the region and the period. These helmets have often been descibed as Mamluk, but the freedom of the arabesques, floral decoration and the fact that the inscription plays a secondary role in the decorative schema suggests a more Turcoman/Persian, than Egyptian or Syrian production.

see also lot 381
(Alexander, D.G.: The Turban Helmet, in Metropolitan Museum Jurnal, volume 18, 1983, pp. 97-104)