EGYPT, 8TH CENTURY

Details

AN EARLY ISLAMIC BRONZE EWER
Egypt, 8th century
The waisted cylindrical body with slight hexagonal base rising to a sharply flaring and indented hexagonal shoulder, lightly hexagonal faceted waisted cylindrical neck widening to a circular mouth, a raised band around the narrowest part, straight tubular angled spout, the tubular handle with ball knop, on three ball feet, slightly dented
12¾in. (32.4cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This ewer is one of a small group of early bronze ewers with three feet, waisted body and with a band around the waisted neck. A small number are known, now in the British Museum (Ward, Rachel: Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, p.48), in the Berlin Museum (Islamische Kunst in Berlin, Berlin, 1974), and in the Keir Collection (Schätze der Kalifen, Islamische Kunst der Fatimidenzeit, exhibition catalogue, Vienna, 1998, no.193, pp.201 and 204). This particular example is more angular in outline than most with the depressions around the shoulder, a feature which is also shared by an example in the Islamic Museum in Cairo (Baer, Eva: Metalwork in Mediaeval Islamic Art, New York, 1983, pl.69). Eva Baer discusses the origin of this group, pointing out that while one was discovered in an archaeological context in Nishapur, and another in Afghanistan, four have provenances which indicate Egypt as the place of manufacture (op.cit., p.90)

More from Islamic Art and Manuscripts

View All