SOUTH IRAN, LATE 13TH OR EARLY 14TH CENTURY

Details

A FARS BRASS BOWL
SOUTH IRAN, LATE 13TH OR EARLY 14TH CENTURY
The body decorated with a central band of cartouches containing thuluth inscriptions against a scrolling vegetal ground alternating with roundels containing falconers on horseback, a band of braided decoration and one of foliate meander above, palmette and dart decoration below, a later owner's mark in a cartouche near the base, the interior with fish and birds around a central sunburst, no silver remaining
4 ¾in. (12cm.) high; 11 3/8in. (29cm.) diam.

Provenance

Bernard Bottet (1900-71) and his son Bertrand Bottet (1924-94) (numbered 26 on page 58 of the Bottet inventory),
Objets de hasard. Collection Bottet et a divers amateurs, Encheres Rive Gauche, 26 March 2012, lot 151

Engraved

'Perpetual glory and prosperity and happiness and well-being and health and grace and kindness and ease and victory and wealth'
An owner's name in the long narrow panel, 'It's owner Shams al-Din ibn Taj al-Din Farsi'
The smaller owner's name, 'Its owner Husayn'

Further details

Some countries prohibit or restrict the purchase and/or import of Iranian-origin property. Bidders must familiarise themselves with any laws or shipping restrictions that apply to them before bidding on these lots. For example, the USA prohibits dealings in and import of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” (such as carpets, textiles, decorative objects, and scientific instruments) without an appropriate licence. Christie’s has a general OFAC licence which, subject to compliance with certain conditions, would enable a buyer to import this type of lot into the USA. If you intend to use Christie’s licence, please contact us for further information before you bid.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Bernard Bottet was an archaeologist and painter, and with his son he assembled a broad collection of works of art before setting up as a dealer in Nice. The collection was dispersed between 1989 and 2012 over eight public auctions. The Bottets created several inventories of their collection in the 1980s and this bowl can be identified in the second inventory, "[...] au fond, poissons et oiseaux d'eau" (Bernard Bottet and Bertrand Bottet, Objets de hasard. Collection Bottet et a divers amateurs, Encheres Rive Gauche, 26 March 2012, p. 58, no.26).

The convex shape of this bowl is one of the two standard Fars types as identified by A.S. Melikian-Chirvani (Islamic Metalwork for the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, p.149, fig.55). Additionally, the bowl bears not one but two cartouches containing the names of later owners, including one which has been very carefully incised against a hatched ground typical of Safavid period decoration.

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