TURKEY, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

AN OTTOMAN GILT COPPER (TOMBAK) INCENSE BURNER
TURKEY, SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY
Of ovoid form with pierced hinged cover, supported on a trumpet base with very narrow delicate stem, three scrolling arms supporting the sides, all resting on a circular dish, the cover pierced and engraved with a very fine design of scrolling vine around paired cypress trees alternating with roundels containing similar flowering vine, arabesque interlace and floral borders above and below, the base engraved with elegant scrolling saz leaves linking cusped medallions, some gilding rubbed, small restoration at hinge, finial broken
9¼in. (23.5cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This extremely elegant incense burner is very similar indeed to one sold in these Rooms 10 October 1989, lot 357 and now in the Khalili Collection (J. M. Rogers, Empire of the Sultans, Ottoman Art from the collection of Nasser D. Khalili, Geneva, 1995, no.118, pp.178-9). The similarity is such to make one believe that they could have been made as a pair, or certainly by the same craftsman. That example however lacks the three legs that are still retained here. That catalogue entry notes a similar example in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, dated to the 16th century. A further closely related example, with the three scrolling legs but lacking the central foot, is in the Sadberk Hanim museum, Istanbul, dated to the late 17th or early 18th century (Fulya Bodur, The Art of Turkish Metalworking, Istanbul, 1987, no.A.60, p.114).

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