IRAN, CIRCA 1600

Details

A SAFAVID ENGRAVED BRASS TORCHSTAND
Iran, circa 1600
Of columnar form with flaring foot and everted lip, the main register with a band of cast double zigzag bands dividing bands and panels of finely engraved shaped cartouches linked by scrolling floral motifs and arabesques on a hatched ground, the mouth with a band of inscription cartouches between similar bands of meandering arabesques and palmette vine, the foot with three bands of floral meander above a broader band of inverted arcaded panels containing palmettes, a band of floral meander around the foot, the foot also with a later Armenian inscription, slight dent to foot
12 5/8in. (32cm.) high

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Lot Essay

The inscription can be translated:
On that night when thy moonface became the light of our solitude
The candle melted, unable to bear our companionship
The moment when thou tearest off the mask from thy moon-like face
There rises the sun of our good fortune.

The inscription is identical to that on a torch stand in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A.S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, no.141, p.315, from where the present translation is taken).

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