Lot Essay
The inscription around the cover reads: 'al-'izz w'al-iqbal w'al-dawla w'al-salama w'al-sa'ada w'al-..(glory, prosperity, good fortune, peace, bliss and [.... to the owner]).
A larger inkwell from the same group with silver inlay and fittings was sold in these Rooms 27 April 1993, lot 120. The footnote to that lot points out the rarity of the iconography found here. Apart from that inkwell and the present lot, only three other published inkwells have this decorative repertoire, so suited for its purpose. One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A.S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th Centuries, London, 1982, p.124, no.52), a second is in the Kofler-Truniger Collection (Baer, E.: An Islamic Inkwell in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972, pp.200-201, pls.1-5), while the third was offered in Sotheby's Geneva (Islamic Art, 25 June 1985, lot 206).
A larger inkwell from the same group with silver inlay and fittings was sold in these Rooms 27 April 1993, lot 120. The footnote to that lot points out the rarity of the iconography found here. Apart from that inkwell and the present lot, only three other published inkwells have this decorative repertoire, so suited for its purpose. One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A.S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th Centuries, London, 1982, p.124, no.52), a second is in the Kofler-Truniger Collection (Baer, E.: An Islamic Inkwell in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Islamic Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1972, pp.200-201, pls.1-5), while the third was offered in Sotheby's Geneva (Islamic Art, 25 June 1985, lot 206).