MESOPOTAMIA, 13TH CENTURY

Details

A MOSUL SILVER-INLAID BRASS INKWELL
MESOPOTAMIA, 13TH CENTURY
Of cylindrical form, the body engraved and inlaid with seven roundels each containing a musician on a ground of scrolling vine issuing palmettes and alternated with smaller roundels containing birds, a border of kufic inscription punctuated with rosettes below, losses to inlay
3in. (7.4cm.) high; 3 7/8in. (9.9cm.) diam.

Provenance

Anon sale in these rooms, 25th April 1995, lot 218

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

The inscription in kufic around the base of this inkwell includes benedictory phrases in Arabic.

A similar cylindrical container is in the Keir Collection (Geza Fehérvári, Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976, no.130, pp.104-05, pl.43b).

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