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Lot Essay
This piece belongs to a group of candlesticks characterised by twin or triple dragon's head terminals found from Ottoman Turkey to Central Asia from the 15th to the 17th century. Examples are published in Ward, R.: Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, pp.104-105, fig.82 (in the David Collection); Treasures of Islam, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1985, no.292; and Masterpieces Of Islamic Art in the Hermitage Museum, exhibition catalogue, Kuwait, 1990, no.108. Further candlesticks were sold at auction, in these rooms, 10 October 1989, lot 448 and at Sotheby's, 12th October 1988, lot 63.
The earliest dating given to one of these is to that in the David Collection. It has been attributed to Khorassan in the 15th century, more specifically to the first half thereof by von Folsach. The drum base of that piece is very similar in shape to our example. However, the decoration and the everted flange suggest otherwise. There are a number of examples of candlesticks with waisted drum bases but fewer with pierced sides and everted flange foot. The only comparably cusped foot is to be found on the example in the Hermitage Museum noted above; the engraved decoration on the base however clearly identifies it as Safavid. The lower undecorated flange foot can however be seen on the larger Ottoman example on the Khosrovani Collection mentioned above (Treasures of Islam). The density of linear engraving, although certainly cruder in this example, also relates to the group of Ottoman single nozzle candlesticks which also share the lower flange foot such as that in the Freer Gallery (Atil, Esin, Chase, W.T. and Jett, Paul: Islamic Metalwork in the Freer gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1985, no.27, pp.191-194). An Ottoman origin therefore seems the most probable.
Although the symbolism of the dragon-headed candlestick is unclear Rachel Ward has posited that since the dragon was a symbol of the lunar and solar eclipse in Islamic astrology it is particularly appropriate for candle-holders: as the wax burnt down, the dragons appeared to swallow the two sources of light. It is also noteworthy that the triple-headed candlesticks are not dissimilar in design to the triple-headed serpent monument in the Hippodrome in Istanbul.
The earliest dating given to one of these is to that in the David Collection. It has been attributed to Khorassan in the 15th century, more specifically to the first half thereof by von Folsach. The drum base of that piece is very similar in shape to our example. However, the decoration and the everted flange suggest otherwise. There are a number of examples of candlesticks with waisted drum bases but fewer with pierced sides and everted flange foot. The only comparably cusped foot is to be found on the example in the Hermitage Museum noted above; the engraved decoration on the base however clearly identifies it as Safavid. The lower undecorated flange foot can however be seen on the larger Ottoman example on the Khosrovani Collection mentioned above (Treasures of Islam). The density of linear engraving, although certainly cruder in this example, also relates to the group of Ottoman single nozzle candlesticks which also share the lower flange foot such as that in the Freer Gallery (Atil, Esin, Chase, W.T. and Jett, Paul: Islamic Metalwork in the Freer gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 1985, no.27, pp.191-194). An Ottoman origin therefore seems the most probable.
Although the symbolism of the dragon-headed candlestick is unclear Rachel Ward has posited that since the dragon was a symbol of the lunar and solar eclipse in Islamic astrology it is particularly appropriate for candle-holders: as the wax burnt down, the dragons appeared to swallow the two sources of light. It is also noteworthy that the triple-headed candlesticks are not dissimilar in design to the triple-headed serpent monument in the Hippodrome in Istanbul.