IRAN, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

AN EXTREMELY LARGE SAFAVID ENGRAVED COPPER BOWL
IRAN, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Of rounded form narrowing before everted rim, the body decorated with sixteen alternating large and small medallions each containing one of a wide variety of lively animals, the roundels joined through a wavy band punctuated with quatrefoil rosettes, the larger animal roundels all linked at the top with alternating small and large half medallions containing arabesques and floral designs, the shoulder with alternating rectangular calligraphic cartouches and further small animal roundels, the rim similarly engraved with long cartouches containing paired animals or calligraphy linked with smaller floral roundels, minor dents
19½in. (49.5cm.) diam. at rim

Engraved

In the cartouches around the body: Persian benedictory verses in praise of the basin, followed by a benedictory phrase and the name 'Ibn Mirak Jan, Muhammadi Tabrizi (probably the maker)
Under the rim: 'It was transferred to the shrine of Mir Qasim Abarqu'i' In the cartouches on the rim: Persian verses in praise of the basin including the words 'This basin that in clarity is like the luminous moon'
Later owner's names incised: Shah Muhammad ibn Habib (the name Muhammad is crossed out) and 'His [God's] servant Isma'il Hasib AH 1115 [1703-04 AD]' , and, 'His [God's] servant, Tatir (?) Habibullah'

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Lot Essay

The size of this bowl is exceptional. At about 50cm. in diameter at the rim, it is larger than the vast majority of Safavid metalwork known. One exception is a tinned copper bowl in the State Hermitage Museum, dated AH 999/1590-91 AD , which measures 60cm. in diameter (Sheila R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas. The Remaking of Iran, exhibition catalogue, London, 2009, no.79, p.164-65). Canby, in her discussion on the bowl, suggests that the large size may indicate that it was used to serve food to large numbers of people, but also mentions that bowls of related shape appear in paintings used as washing basins. Those however are often shown as ceramic rather than metal. A related but smaller bowl dated to the late 16th or early 17th century is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World. 8-18th Centuries, no.143, pp.317-18). Like on our bowl, the Victoria and Albert engraving includes a wide range of animals, in cartouches around the body.

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