IRAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY

A Safavid engraved brass kettle, from the collection of Dr. Amir Pakzad, was sold through these Rooms 29 April 2003, lot 120; (see also Niewöhner, Elke: Islamische Kunst, Kestner-Museum Hannover, Hannover, 1991, no.52, pp.34-5 and back cover). The present example is remarkable in the quality of the overall design on the surface. A further example with animals on the exterior, but each contained within a medallion, and bearing the date 1011/1602-3, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A.S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, no.147, pp.322-6). Another, in the Louvre, has the overall arabesques seen here but without the animals inhabiting them (Bernus-Taylor, Marthe: Les Arts de l'Islam, Paris, 2001, ill.p.97).