PROBABLY MOROCCO, 17TH CENTURY

The form of this pair of stirrups with the curved base plate and extended sides is very close to that used by the Ottomans from at least the seventeenth century (Petrasch, Ernst et al.: Die Karlsruhe Türkenbeute, Munich, 1991, no.68,. p.141). Earlier examples are found in Spain of this type, but not extending so far, and with flat bases (Gonzalez, Valérie: Gli Smalti dell'Europa Musulmana e del Maghreb, Milan, 1994, pls.105 and 106, p.145). The decoration on the present pair is wholly derived from the geometry of the Western Islamic lands, notably Spain and Morocco. In the seventeenth century Morocco was under Ottoman rule, yet all its decorative arts, especially manuscript illumination and woodwork, show that the mediaeval geometric interlace style was still prevalent.