A FINE SIIRT SILVER INLAID CAST BRASS CANDLESTICK with waisted body rising from stepped base, slightly sloping shoulder and tubular neck below the mouth similarly formed to the body, the body with a central band of cusped linked roundels each containing scrolling vine around one of the figures of the Zodiac, a band of silver inlaid naskh calligraphy above and below interrupted by key-pattern roundels, a band of scrolling vine above and below terminating in a variety of animal heads, the base with a band of coursing animals, the shoulder with a similar animal band around animal headed vine and roundels, the neck with kufic calligraphy and similar roundels, the mouth similar, the naskh calligraphy with human and animal headed hastae, late 13th century (rubbed, most inlay now missing, shoulder broken and crudely fixed)

Details

A FINE SIIRT SILVER INLAID CAST BRASS CANDLESTICK with waisted body rising from stepped base, slightly sloping shoulder and tubular neck below the mouth similarly formed to the body, the body with a central band of cusped linked roundels each containing scrolling vine around one of the figures of the Zodiac, a band of silver inlaid naskh calligraphy above and below interrupted by key-pattern roundels, a band of scrolling vine above and below terminating in a variety of animal heads, the base with a band of coursing animals, the shoulder with a similar animal band around animal headed vine and roundels, the neck with kufic calligraphy and similar roundels, the mouth similar, the naskh calligraphy with human and animal headed hastae, late 13th century (rubbed, most inlay now missing, shoulder broken and crudely fixed)
7 7/8in. (20cm.) high

Lot Essay

The Signs of the Zodiac are represented in the main field and each is named above in naskh script. For three other Siirt candlesticks decorated with the Signs of the Zodiac, see Rice, D.S.: 'The Seasons and the Labours of the Month in Islamic Art, Ars Orientalis, 1954, pp.1-39. Another similar was sold in these Rooms, 19 October 1993, lot 291. A further example, formerly in the Sarre Collection, has not only the Signs of the Zodiac but also similar Arabic verses to those found here (Sarre, F.: Erzeugnisse Islamische Kunst, Teil I, Metall, Berlin, 1906, no.40, p.20 and Abb.19. The inhabited scroll in the upper register of the main field is possibly the only example among the Siirt candlesticks.

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