Lot Essay
This large bowl is probably the most impressive to have been published from Safavid Persia combining an upper panel of inscriptions with a lower band of figural scenes. The depictions are well-drawn, and the calligraphy magnificent. There is a comparable albeit smaller example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A. S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, no. 153, pp.333-334), which is interesting in that it is dated to 1643-44, a few years earlier than the present example. Indeed, were it not for the date inscribed on the present piece, it would have been thought to have dated from the first half of the seventeenth century.
This bowl is also very similar to a large example in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (The Indian Heritage -- Court Life and the Arts under Mughal Rule, exhibition catalogue, London, 1982, no.488, p.144). The figural drawing in particular is very close. Yet the scenes show a combination of Safavid ideas with Mughal depictions. While the calligraphy on our bowl is stronger, in many other respects the similarities are so close as to make one wonder whether they were made in the same place. Certainly the date on this bowl must have a bearing on the dating of the Indian example.
This bowl is also very similar to a large example in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (The Indian Heritage -- Court Life and the Arts under Mughal Rule, exhibition catalogue, London, 1982, no.488, p.144). The figural drawing in particular is very close. Yet the scenes show a combination of Safavid ideas with Mughal depictions. While the calligraphy on our bowl is stronger, in many other respects the similarities are so close as to make one wonder whether they were made in the same place. Certainly the date on this bowl must have a bearing on the dating of the Indian example.