AN ENGRAVED SAFAVID BRASS BASIN
AN ENGRAVED SAFAVID BRASS BASIN

IRAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY

Details
AN ENGRAVED SAFAVID BRASS BASIN
IRAN, LATE 16TH CENTURY
The cylindrical base slightly inverted before wide flaring rim, the rim decorated with an elegant band of floral arabesque between two simple bands, the lip with a band of trefoil flowers, the base with a central boss surrounded by a stellar motif issuing trefoil palmettes, now rubbed arabesque design within the boss, the underside with bands of concentric circles

15in. (38.1cm.) diam. at rim

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Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse
Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse

Lot Essay

A very similar basin is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv.no.768-1894, A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World. 8-18th Centuries, London, 1982, pp.301-02, fig.132). In his description of that example, Melikian-Chirvani writes that the shape is derived from a model in use in Iran from the mid-13th to mid-14th century. The form then appears again in the late 15th century, and is seen in miniature painting in the early 16th century (Melikian-Chirvani, op.cit., p.301). He dates the Victoria and Albert basin to circa 1588 on the basis of the similarity of its decoration to that of a dated shamdan in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Like our basin the Victoria and Albert example has a similar stellar motif to the centre, reminiscent of a shamsa in contemporaneous manuscript illumination.

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