FIVE SELJUK BRONZE AND COPPER HUMAN FIGURES

PERSIA, 12TH CENTURY

細節

FIVE SELJUK BRONZE AND COPPER HUMAN FIGURES
PERSIA, 12TH CENTURY
Each originally forming the support of a casket, standing with the arms at the waist, pronounced crown on the head, one holding a cup, one with black patination, two with red patination, the two more worked with silver dots adorning the coat, the remainder gilt, each with holes for, or remains of, two attachment pins, some rubbing and corrosion
3in. (7.4cm.) high (5)

拍品專文

Three very similar bronze human figures can be found adorning the side of a remarkable but somewhat restored bronze casket with silver inlaid top and a combination lock in the lid (Pope, Arthur Upham: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1303). The inscriptions on the cover of that casket are dated AH [5]93 (1197 AD). The better preserved upper part of a very similar casket with combination lock is in the David Collection (Folsach, Kjeld v.: Islamic Art -- The David Collection, Copenhagen, 1990, no.363, p.215). This second casket is not only dated fully AH 597, but is also signed by Muhammad b. Hamid al-Asturlabi al-Isfahani. These two thus give us a secure date for the present unusual group of figures and even make one wonder if we can suggest the craftsman who made some of them. The difference in quality and execution of our figures however would indicate that they come from more than one original casket.