EUROPE, PROBABLY VIENNA, PERIOD OF SULTAN ABDULAZIZ (1861-1876 AD)

Details

A SILVER INLAID TORTOISESHELL VENEERED WRITING BOX
EUROPE, PROBABLY VIENNA, PERIOD OF SULTAN ABDULAZIZ (1861-1876 AD)
Of rectangular form with central handle, the top and sides inlaid with silver rococo medallions and similar borders, the two halves of the lid each hinged, one opening to reveal a tray for the writing implements, the other lifting up and revealing six enamelled pots with floral designs, made to hold three colours of ink, sand, water and a sponge, a tray for stationary in the side, the inside of the cover of purple velvet with voided and silvered tughra of Sultan Abdulaziz, one pot with damaged enamels
18½ x 9 5/8 x 5 3/8in. (46.8 x 24.3 x 13.7cm.)

Provenance

Given by Yosef Niego, the founder of the Independent order of Béné Bérith in Istanbul to Leon L. Lewis of Chicago, the secretary, on 8 February 1925, detailed on a letter sold with the lot.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium Please note that the lots of Iranian origin are subject to U.S. trade restrictions which currently prohibit the import into the United States. Similar restrictions may apply in other countries.

Lot Essay

The workmanship of this box is European, and, judging from the enamelling of the small ink wells, Viennese. The tughra of Sultan Abdulaziz, appearing as it does only in the velvet lining of the cover, may well have been a later addition once the writing set arrived in Istanbul. A writing chest made for Sultan Abdulmecid survives in the Topkapi Palace; also made of tortoiseshell it is inlaid with ivory (Splendours of the Ottoman Sultans, exhibition catalogue, Memphis, 1992, p.151). An ink set completely made of tortoiseshell in the Topkapi Palace, of Turkish workmanship, has, like here, six containers (Splendours of the Ottoman Sultans, p.152). Three of those are for black, red and blue-green inks, the remains of which can still be seen in our pots. A small spouted vessel is for the water that should be added to the inks. The other two were for sand and the cleaning of the pens.

The full text of the letter sold with this lot is available on request.

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