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拍品專文
This impressive candlestick is one of the few surviving examples of royal Rasulid metalwork. The Rasulids ruled Yemen for two centuries (AH 626⁄1228 AD to AH 858⁄1454 AD). Their strategic position was fundamental for Indian Ocean trade and most ships stopped in Rasulid ports before entering the Red Sea and reaching Mamluk ports. The link with Mamluk Egypt was one of the strongest and literary sources mention “frequent exchanges of embassies, often bearing gifts, and commercial relations between Yemen and Egypt which were not without influence on the art of Yemen” (M.S. Dimand, Unpublished metalwork of the Rasulid Sultans of Yemen, Metropolitan Museum Studies, vol.3 pp.229-237 no.2).
This candlestick is dedicated to the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid Sayf ad-Din ‘Ali (r. 1322-63) and was most likely made by a Mamluk craftsman. Despite occasional tensions between the two Sultanates, the artistic output of the Rasulid caliphate was greatly influenced by Mamluk taste and this candlestick is an example of this cultural exchange. The overall decoration follows the Mamluk aesthetic, with a large thuluth inscription interspaced by medallions and a dense foliate background. The five-petaled rosette found here, and on other examples of Rasulid metal and glass, is however a distinctive Rasulid mark of identification. It is likely that the metalwork made for the Rasulid Sultans of Yemen and their officials was made in Cairo or Damascus and either delivered as diplomatic gifts from Mamluk Sultans or as the result of direct commissions.
The reign of Sultan al-Mujahid was prolific in terms of artistic production. Around twenty pieces of metalwork dated to that period and with similar decoration have survived. A tray now in the Louvre is dedicated to the same Sultan and is decorated with similar copper five-petaled rosettes though lacks the silver inlay (inv.no. OA6008; S. Makariou (ed.), Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Paris 2012, p.265). Another contemporaneous basin now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York has very fine silver inlay, similar to that on our candlestick (inv.no.91.1.589; M. S. Dimand, A Handbook of Muhammadan Art, New York, 1944. p.152).
The neck and socket of our candlestick are not original to the base, but are very fine examples of the metalwork of 13th century Mosul. The elegant interlacing arabesque that decorates the shaft relates very closely to a candlestick in the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (MW.112.1999; published James Allan, Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts, Doha, 1992, no.8, p.42). In his catalogue of the collection, James Allan refers to the arabesque design on the candlestick as very unusual and a "tour de force". The relief rosette through which it is attached (seen only on the inside), is also a feature of Mosuli candlesticks (see Julian Raby, 'The Principle of Parsimony and the Problem of the 'Mosul School of Metalwork', in Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen (eds.), Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World, New York, 2012, p.34).
A very similar candlestick, also dedicated to the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid Sayf ad-Din ‘Ali, was sold in these Rooms, 8 October 2015, lot 19. That example, which also had an associated neck, was formerly in the collection of Alphonse Delort de Gléon and is now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre (MAO 2285) and is currently on view at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
This candlestick is dedicated to the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid Sayf ad-Din ‘Ali (r. 1322-63) and was most likely made by a Mamluk craftsman. Despite occasional tensions between the two Sultanates, the artistic output of the Rasulid caliphate was greatly influenced by Mamluk taste and this candlestick is an example of this cultural exchange. The overall decoration follows the Mamluk aesthetic, with a large thuluth inscription interspaced by medallions and a dense foliate background. The five-petaled rosette found here, and on other examples of Rasulid metal and glass, is however a distinctive Rasulid mark of identification. It is likely that the metalwork made for the Rasulid Sultans of Yemen and their officials was made in Cairo or Damascus and either delivered as diplomatic gifts from Mamluk Sultans or as the result of direct commissions.
The reign of Sultan al-Mujahid was prolific in terms of artistic production. Around twenty pieces of metalwork dated to that period and with similar decoration have survived. A tray now in the Louvre is dedicated to the same Sultan and is decorated with similar copper five-petaled rosettes though lacks the silver inlay (inv.no. OA6008; S. Makariou (ed.), Islamic Art at the Musée du Louvre, Paris 2012, p.265). Another contemporaneous basin now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York has very fine silver inlay, similar to that on our candlestick (inv.no.91.1.589; M. S. Dimand, A Handbook of Muhammadan Art, New York, 1944. p.152).
The neck and socket of our candlestick are not original to the base, but are very fine examples of the metalwork of 13th century Mosul. The elegant interlacing arabesque that decorates the shaft relates very closely to a candlestick in the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (MW.112.1999; published James Allan, Metalwork Treasures from the Islamic Courts, Doha, 1992, no.8, p.42). In his catalogue of the collection, James Allan refers to the arabesque design on the candlestick as very unusual and a "tour de force". The relief rosette through which it is attached (seen only on the inside), is also a feature of Mosuli candlesticks (see Julian Raby, 'The Principle of Parsimony and the Problem of the 'Mosul School of Metalwork', in Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen (eds.), Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World, New York, 2012, p.34).
A very similar candlestick, also dedicated to the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Mujahid Sayf ad-Din ‘Ali, was sold in these Rooms, 8 October 2015, lot 19. That example, which also had an associated neck, was formerly in the collection of Alphonse Delort de Gléon and is now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre (MAO 2285) and is currently on view at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.