A MOSUL SILVER INLAID BRASS INKWELL with flat base, straight sides and inverted rim, the exterior engraved and inlaid with figural roundels of musicians divided by smaller roundels depicting birds, on a scrolling vine ground, a band of kufic calligraphy below interrupted by rosettes, pierced above with two holes for a clasp, the rim engraved with a band of interlace, the interior plain, mid 13th century (some rubbing, some inlay missing)

Details

A MOSUL SILVER INLAID BRASS INKWELL with flat base, straight sides and inverted rim, the exterior engraved and inlaid with figural roundels of musicians divided by smaller roundels depicting birds, on a scrolling vine ground, a band of kufic calligraphy below interrupted by rosettes, pierced above with two holes for a clasp, the rim engraved with a band of interlace, the interior plain, mid 13th century (some rubbing, some inlay missing)
4½in. (10.2cm.) diam.
3in. (7.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

A similar cylindrical container is in the Keir Collection (Fehérvári, G.: Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976, no.130, p.104-5 and pl.43b)

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