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Lot Essay
The inscriptions combine to read: al-mulk , li'llah al-wahid , al-sa'ada , al-sa'id , al-za'id wa , al-baqa li-sahibihi, 'Sovereignty is God's, the One. Rising increasing Happiness and Long-life to its owner'.
A belt of very similar form was in these Rooms 23 October 2007, lot 438. In each case there are larger square elements alternating with paired smaller round ones, linked by chains. The design on the back of that necklace linked it to gold jewellery from sites identified with the Golden Horde (The Treasures of the Golden Horde, Saint Petersburg, 2000, esp.nos.170-173, pp.257-258, ill.p.91).
The present belt has very different and far more complex decoration on the reverse and sides of each of the elements, executed in engraving with black inlay. Just as there is an alternation between the shape of the beads, so there is one between the decoration on the reverse of each, with gold on black alternating with black on gold. The inscriptions found here are very similar in technique to those on a group of bracelets, notably a pair of bracelets sold in these Rooms 28 April 1998, lot 338. Here, in addition to the inscriptions, there are panels showing pairs of harpies, an extraordinarily rare design to find on mediaeval gold jewellery. The quality of this belt is very high indeed, similar to that of the two bracelets sold in 1998.
A further comparable example is a bracelet in the Freer Gallery of Art which is dated to the 12th century and attributed to Iran, (Inv. 50.21, see Esin. Atil, W.T. Chase and Paul Jett, Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985, p. 77).
A belt of very similar form was in these Rooms 23 October 2007, lot 438. In each case there are larger square elements alternating with paired smaller round ones, linked by chains. The design on the back of that necklace linked it to gold jewellery from sites identified with the Golden Horde (The Treasures of the Golden Horde, Saint Petersburg, 2000, esp.nos.170-173, pp.257-258, ill.p.91).
The present belt has very different and far more complex decoration on the reverse and sides of each of the elements, executed in engraving with black inlay. Just as there is an alternation between the shape of the beads, so there is one between the decoration on the reverse of each, with gold on black alternating with black on gold. The inscriptions found here are very similar in technique to those on a group of bracelets, notably a pair of bracelets sold in these Rooms 28 April 1998, lot 338. Here, in addition to the inscriptions, there are panels showing pairs of harpies, an extraordinarily rare design to find on mediaeval gold jewellery. The quality of this belt is very high indeed, similar to that of the two bracelets sold in 1998.
A further comparable example is a bracelet in the Freer Gallery of Art which is dated to the 12th century and attributed to Iran, (Inv. 50.21, see Esin. Atil, W.T. Chase and Paul Jett, Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985, p. 77).