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Lot Essay
Around the rim, repetition of a single undeciphered word, possible al-ta[mma], 'Plenitude'
This is a most unusual dish. It is very thinly made, and yet the surface is completely covered in engraved and inlaid decoration. The form is highly unusual, a shallow sinuous cross section with no foot-rim, and no evidence of one having been removed. The form is however the same as that of two dishes in white bronze attributed to 13th century Khorasan one plain, one engraved and inlaid, the other plain, in the Iranian National Museum, (inv 55695⁄21695; Simin Lakpour, Sefid Ruy, Tehran, 1997, nos. 32 and 33, pp.90-5).
The technique of inlay here, and in the related inlaid dish in Tehran, shows a marked change from the inlay of the early 13th century as seen in the following lot. The edges of the inlaid areas are engraved, but there is no carving away of the ground in the inlaid areas. The silver that is applied is far thinner than that of the early century, which explains why relatively little remains even though the dish shows no sign of wear. This is a technique that relates closely to the later Mamluk technique (see lot 30 in this sale, now retaining none of the original silver), and clearly uses far less silver in the manufacture, at a time when it was in far shorter supply. However, while the use of very thin silver demonstrates a potential concern about the cost when it was made, the engraving is very fine indeed and covers every part of the surface with a design that both has huge numbers of small sun-motifs in the centre, but also uses the dense vertical hastae on the rim inscription to make the entire piece appear like a single large radiating sun.
This is a most unusual dish. It is very thinly made, and yet the surface is completely covered in engraved and inlaid decoration. The form is highly unusual, a shallow sinuous cross section with no foot-rim, and no evidence of one having been removed. The form is however the same as that of two dishes in white bronze attributed to 13th century Khorasan one plain, one engraved and inlaid, the other plain, in the Iranian National Museum, (inv 55695⁄21695; Simin Lakpour, Sefid Ruy, Tehran, 1997, nos. 32 and 33, pp.90-5).
The technique of inlay here, and in the related inlaid dish in Tehran, shows a marked change from the inlay of the early 13th century as seen in the following lot. The edges of the inlaid areas are engraved, but there is no carving away of the ground in the inlaid areas. The silver that is applied is far thinner than that of the early century, which explains why relatively little remains even though the dish shows no sign of wear. This is a technique that relates closely to the later Mamluk technique (see lot 30 in this sale, now retaining none of the original silver), and clearly uses far less silver in the manufacture, at a time when it was in far shorter supply. However, while the use of very thin silver demonstrates a potential concern about the cost when it was made, the engraving is very fine indeed and covers every part of the surface with a design that both has huge numbers of small sun-motifs in the centre, but also uses the dense vertical hastae on the rim inscription to make the entire piece appear like a single large radiating sun.