SPAIN, CIRCA 1880

Details

A GILDED TOLEDO STEEL ALHAMBRA-STYLE VASE
SPAIN, CIRCA 1880
The steel body damascened with a dense overall decoration, the central register with a band of kufic alternating with geometric rosettes, inscriptions above and below, the gently widening neck decorated with an arcade containing Nasrid-style shields, rising to an everted mouth, the two handles with a polylobed interior, the elongated foot splayed at the base
8 3/8in. (21.4cm.) high

Engraved

Repeats of versions of the Nasrid motto, 'And there is no victor but God'.
Around the body al-‘izz wa’l-da’im [sic] wa’l-iqbal wa’l-sa‘ada wa’l-salama wa’l-sahha wa’l-ni’ma wa’l-ra’fa wa’l-raha wa’l-nusra wa’l-dawla wa’l-rahma wa’l-‘umr li-sahibihi, 'Perpetual and glory [sic] and prosperity and happiness and well-being and health and favour and kindness and ease and victory and wealth and mercy and life for its owner’
sahibuhu shams al-din bin taj al-din farsi, 'Its owner Shams al-Din bin Taj al-Din Farsi'
In a small cartouche sahibuhu husayn 'Its owner Husayn'

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Alongside Eibar, Toledo was one of the primary centres of the 19th-century Nasrid revival in Spain. The small scale of the present vase emphasizes the exceptional quality of its damascening and may have served as a model for larger examples. Comparable vases on the larger scale were sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 278 and at Sotheby's London, 24 October 2012, lot 290.

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