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Lot Essay
This bowl, unusually decorated in repoussé both front and back is a fine example of its type. It was Marian Wenzel who made the compelling argument that this group of vessels was probably produced in, or by craftsmen from, the Balkans (Marian Wenzel, ‘Early Ottoman Silver and Iznik Pottery Design’, Apollo, September 1989, p.160). The military annexation of the Balkans brought the integration of the rich silver mines of Bosnia and Serbia into the Ottoman Empire, and as a consequence also lured the skilled silversmiths to Istanbul. The Balkan countries were the main source of silver within the Ottoman Empire – Serbia’s richest mine, Novo Brdo, fell to the Turks in 1455 and Mehmet the Conqueror captured Bosnia and therein its biggest mine, Srebenica, in 1463. With that, the Balkan and Ottoman influences in silver work began to mix.
This bowl bears close resemblance to one in the Sadberk Hanim Museum attributed to the late 18th century (inv.no.15698-M.1252; Istanbul, 2006, no.33, pp.153-54). Like ours, that bowl has a sculpted stag relaxing at the centre of the omphalos. Whilst it can be found on a few earlier examples, by the 18th century, the addition of an applied animal was fairly standard. The cavetto of the Sadberk Hanim bowl is decorated with a number of the same animals as ours, including a rooster, dogs, an eagle attacking a hare, a feline (probably a lion) and a hare – all within rococo style decoration. In their description of the Sadberk Hanim bowl, Pitarakis and Merantzas write that the stag and the animals that surround it all have Christological allusions. The authors go on to suggest that the quality of workmanship on the Sadberk Hanim bowl, as well as the clarity and sharpness of the design, supports an attribution to an expert silversmith from an important workshop – so similar is our bowl that one can make the same assertions and perhaps even attribute it to the same maker.
A similar bowl is in the Savina Monastery in Montenegro (for a line drawing see Wenzel, 1989, no.1, p.159). Another, with much of its gilding remaining, and dated slightly earlier, was sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 307.
This bowl bears close resemblance to one in the Sadberk Hanim Museum attributed to the late 18th century (inv.no.15698-M.1252; Istanbul, 2006, no.33, pp.153-54). Like ours, that bowl has a sculpted stag relaxing at the centre of the omphalos. Whilst it can be found on a few earlier examples, by the 18th century, the addition of an applied animal was fairly standard. The cavetto of the Sadberk Hanim bowl is decorated with a number of the same animals as ours, including a rooster, dogs, an eagle attacking a hare, a feline (probably a lion) and a hare – all within rococo style decoration. In their description of the Sadberk Hanim bowl, Pitarakis and Merantzas write that the stag and the animals that surround it all have Christological allusions. The authors go on to suggest that the quality of workmanship on the Sadberk Hanim bowl, as well as the clarity and sharpness of the design, supports an attribution to an expert silversmith from an important workshop – so similar is our bowl that one can make the same assertions and perhaps even attribute it to the same maker.
A similar bowl is in the Savina Monastery in Montenegro (for a line drawing see Wenzel, 1989, no.1, p.159). Another, with much of its gilding remaining, and dated slightly earlier, was sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 307.