INDIA, 19TH CENTURY

The form of this ewer is usually associated with Islamic pilgrim flasks or bottles which were made with a squat globular body, flattened to one side, with a neck flanked with suspension loop. Early examples were made of leather, and a well-known glass example from Ayyubid Syria has survived, dated circa 1250-60 now kept at the British Museum (Accession number 1869.0120.3). Two 17th century examples from either the Deccan or Northern India, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in the David collection, Copenhagen illustrate how the form translated to the Indian continent and evolved toward the form of the present piece (Accession numbers 1992.50 and 18/1992).