拍品專文
The cauldrons produced in Khorassan in the 12th century and the early 13th century, of similar hemispherical form, are likely to have been the model for the later examples produced in Daghestan. Two spherical cauldrons in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and in the Hermitage Museum have been attributed to the city of Kubachi in the western mountains of Caucasus and dated to the second half of the 14th century on the basis of funerary and architectural material. With their four flanges and the almost identical decoration composed of confronted beasts, the Doha and the St Petersburg cauldrons are extremely close to our cauldron (James Allan, Metalwork treasures from the Islamic Courts, p. 88, cat. 28 and Beyond the Palace Walls, exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 2006, p. 68, cat. 60). With its hemispherical shape, the present example is however much rarer than other Daghestan cauldrons from the same period.