MUZZAFARID FARS, SOUTH IRAN, 14TH CENTURY

Details

A SILVER-INLAID BRASS BOWL
MUZZAFARID FARS, SOUTH IRAN, 14TH CENTURY
Engraved with bold calligraphic cartouches in muhaqqaq script interspersed with mounted knights on profuse scrolling ground within roundels, the plain base with hanging palmettes, the inside with old collection inscription reading 'Ch. Gillot no. 3 (?)'
4 ¾in. (12cm.) diam.

Provenance

Charles Gillot, Paris (d.1903); thence by descent until sold Christie's Paris, 4 March 2008, lot 7

Exhibited

Exposition des Arts Musulmans, Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, May-June 1903, n. 123.

Engraved

'izz li-mawlana al-sultan, al-'alim al 'adil al-mansur al-muthaffar min al-sama', al-sultan al-salatin, 'Glory to our lord, the Sultan, the wise, the just, the victorious, the vanquisher of enemies with help from heaven, the sultan of the sultans.'

Sale room notice

This lot is withdrawn.

Brought to you by

Louise Broadhurst

lbroadhurst@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2603

Lot Essay

The layout of the present bowl, with its sequence of figural roundels alternating with oval panels containing elongated thuluth honorific inscriptions is very similar to that of a large number of bowls made in 14th century Fars. Examples are in most major collections including an excellent example in the British Museum (Ward, 1993, no.76, p.99), while others have been sold in the Rooms, including 5 October 2010, lot 173. What makes this specific bowl stand out is the size, which is half that of almost all other examples. It is an exquisite miniature version of the well-known type, which retains considerable proportions of its silver and gold inlay.

For further information and similar examples, see Melikian-Chirvani, 1982, pp.209-214.

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