A SAFAVID DAMASCENED STEEL PANEL, the flat steel plate cut with cusped base rising to a cusped trefoil panel, the obverse originally of blued steel superbly damascened in gold with palmettes, flowerheads and scrolling vine around the naskh invocation 'Ya tahir' (O pure one), within a simple gold band border, the reverse silvered, two attachmnent tangs below, 16/17th century (slight corrosion, top roundel missing)

Details

A SAFAVID DAMASCENED STEEL PANEL, the flat steel plate cut with cusped base rising to a cusped trefoil panel, the obverse originally of blued steel superbly damascened in gold with palmettes, flowerheads and scrolling vine around the naskh invocation 'Ya tahir' (O pure one), within a simple gold band border, the reverse silvered, two attachmnent tangs below, 16/17th century (slight corrosion, top roundel missing)
7 3/8in. (18.8cm.) high

Lot Essay

Eight other examples of these have been published. Four were on the London art market (Fehervari and Safadi nos.54a-d) while four others are in the Linden Museum, Stuttgart (catalogue p.29, fig.25). A further unpublished group is in the al-Sabah collection, Kuwait. Each contains one of the hundred names of God. It seems probable that the group formed an upper decorative feature on a Safavid shrine, a theory supported by the small lugs at the base of each.

Fehervari,G. and Safadi, Y.H.: 1400 Years of Islamic Art, Khalili Gallery, London 1981
Kalter, J.: Linden-Museum Stuttgart - Abteilungsführer Islamic Art, Stuttgart 1987

More from Islamic

View All