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Lot Essay
The inscription above the figure of St. George reads, 'Saint Gevork [George] [for] the pilgrim son Ohanes [John]'. Below the figure of St. George, the inscription reads, 'the year 1209, March'. The inscription is in Turkish in Armenian letters. The words for 'Holy' (translated here as Saint) and the word for 'March' are in Armenian, as well as the names 'Gevork' (George) and 'Ohanes' (John).
This rare flask is significant both for being dated and for the rarity of its form.
In the 18th century, the Armenian potters at Kütahya flourished, producing a wide range of vessels as well as the pictorial and decorative tiles in the Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem, which are dated 1718-19. It was a centre of production deocumented as early as 1608, when the Turkish governor there is recorded as having received instruction from Istanbul that the 'masters who make cups in Kutahya' should sell some of their soda (a raw material for pottery) to the potters of Iznik who were running short (Arthur Lane, Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, p.63). Amongst the Jerusalem tiles mentioned above are examples which depict St. George slaying the dragon - one of which is dated AH 1168/1718 AD (John Carswell, Kütahya Tiles and Pottery from the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem, vol.I, Oxford, 1972, tile CI, pl.10). Despite this overtly Christian imagery, it should be remembered that Kütahya was not exclusively made for Christian patrons - some tiles in the 18th century found their way into Ottoman mosques, a reversal of the situation at the end of the 17th century when Muslim potters had taken to working for Christian patrons (Yanni Petsopoulos (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans. Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, London, 1982, p.88).
Carswell writes that whilst round pilgrim flasks have earlier prototypes, the rectangular flask is a new form in the 18th century. The closest comparable to our bottle is one in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (published Carswell, op.cit., vol.II, fig.20b, p.40). That like ours has a rectangular body, though it is now lacking its neck. It does not have the pronounced bands on each side, but like ours one side has a depiction of St. George slaying the dragon. The other side is not illustrated in Carswell's catalogue. Another, again depicting St. George but much cruder in drawing, sold in these Rooms, 28 April 1992, lot 247. That had St. George on both sides. The combination of St. George with the rather frivolous lady in her hamam shoes and carrying a pipe was perhaps the result of the specific commission of Ohanes, the patron of this fine flask.
This rare flask is significant both for being dated and for the rarity of its form.
In the 18th century, the Armenian potters at Kütahya flourished, producing a wide range of vessels as well as the pictorial and decorative tiles in the Armenian Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem, which are dated 1718-19. It was a centre of production deocumented as early as 1608, when the Turkish governor there is recorded as having received instruction from Istanbul that the 'masters who make cups in Kutahya' should sell some of their soda (a raw material for pottery) to the potters of Iznik who were running short (Arthur Lane, Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, p.63). Amongst the Jerusalem tiles mentioned above are examples which depict St. George slaying the dragon - one of which is dated AH 1168/1718 AD (John Carswell, Kütahya Tiles and Pottery from the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, Jerusalem, vol.I, Oxford, 1972, tile CI, pl.10). Despite this overtly Christian imagery, it should be remembered that Kütahya was not exclusively made for Christian patrons - some tiles in the 18th century found their way into Ottoman mosques, a reversal of the situation at the end of the 17th century when Muslim potters had taken to working for Christian patrons (Yanni Petsopoulos (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques and Turbans. Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, London, 1982, p.88).
Carswell writes that whilst round pilgrim flasks have earlier prototypes, the rectangular flask is a new form in the 18th century. The closest comparable to our bottle is one in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (published Carswell, op.cit., vol.II, fig.20b, p.40). That like ours has a rectangular body, though it is now lacking its neck. It does not have the pronounced bands on each side, but like ours one side has a depiction of St. George slaying the dragon. The other side is not illustrated in Carswell's catalogue. Another, again depicting St. George but much cruder in drawing, sold in these Rooms, 28 April 1992, lot 247. That had St. George on both sides. The combination of St. George with the rather frivolous lady in her hamam shoes and carrying a pipe was perhaps the result of the specific commission of Ohanes, the patron of this fine flask.