A GROUP OF SEVEN SILVER-OVERLAID IRON HORSESHOES

OTTOMAN BALKANS AND EMPIRE, 19TH CENTURY

Details

A GROUP OF SEVEN SILVER-OVERLAID IRON HORSESHOES
OTTOMAN BALKANS AND EMPIRE, 19TH CENTURY
Each of oval shape pierced with a central circular hole and eight further holes, four horseshoes decorated with split palmette arabesques, the other two decorated with flowering vines and rosettes, each with an inscription, four of the inscriptions within a cusped medallion, one at the diagonal, one horizontally across the centre, the reverse of each plain
Largest 4 ¾ x 4 1/8in. (12 x 10.5cm.); smallest 4 x 3 ¾in. (10.2 x 8.5cm.)

Engraved

1. güzel söz demir kapuyı açar, 'A beautiful word opens an iron gate'; 2. (Turkish) güzel söz demir kapuyı açar, 'A beautiful word opens an iron gate'; 3. (Turkish), yadigar-i saray-bosna 'Souvenir of Sarajevo'; 4. (Turkish) saray-bosna, ‘Sarajevo’; 5. (Arabic) ittaq sharr man ahsanta ilayhi, ‘Fear the malice of one you have been kind to’; 6. (Arabic), wa-iyyakum hilm al-faras, 'For you too the mildness of the horse!’; 7. (Turkish) bu da geçer yahu, ‘O! This also passes’

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Finely decorated horseshoes such as this group must have had ceremonial functions because they must have worn down quickly serving little practical purpose. A similar horseshoe is in the Khalili Collections (MTW 1244; J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collections, London 2010, cat.417, p.350).

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