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Lot Essay
This intricately designed bowl is one of the most impressive and earliest published examples from Safavid Iran bearing such detailed and lively figural scenes in combination with elegantly engraved poetry. The depictions are well-drawn epics from the Khamsa of Nizami, and the calligraphy also includes verses from the Khamsa. There is a comparable albeit larger and less refined example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is interesting in that it is dated to 1643-4, almost thirty years later than the present example (A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, no.153, pp.333-334).
Besides from the detailed and well-recognised figural themes, our bowl bears an extraordinary range of animals and birds including a camel, dogs, rabbits, leopard, lion, simurgh, deer, goat and gazelles and a range of birds. On the lower band the only human figure depicted is that of a carefully posed hunter pointing his firearm towards a group of deer who are attempting an escape.
A unique and unusual feature of this bowl is the inclusion of both the hijri date of 1022 and its equivalent in the Seleucid calendar, which is 1925 Anno Graecorum, referred to here as year “1925 of Alexander". The name of the owner which is deciphered as Yuhanna might suggest a Christian owner or patron, which was not uncommon in the Safavid period, especially amongst the wealthy merchants of New Julfa. A superb figural Safavid bowl of a slightly later date (1678-9) sold in these Rooms, 5 October 2010, lot 37.
Besides from the detailed and well-recognised figural themes, our bowl bears an extraordinary range of animals and birds including a camel, dogs, rabbits, leopard, lion, simurgh, deer, goat and gazelles and a range of birds. On the lower band the only human figure depicted is that of a carefully posed hunter pointing his firearm towards a group of deer who are attempting an escape.
A unique and unusual feature of this bowl is the inclusion of both the hijri date of 1022 and its equivalent in the Seleucid calendar, which is 1925 Anno Graecorum, referred to here as year “1925 of Alexander". The name of the owner which is deciphered as Yuhanna might suggest a Christian owner or patron, which was not uncommon in the Safavid period, especially amongst the wealthy merchants of New Julfa. A superb figural Safavid bowl of a slightly later date (1678-9) sold in these Rooms, 5 October 2010, lot 37.