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拍品專文
The inscriptions on these impressive bottles which give the pre-Islamic name Kin-Khwar and title of kiya, ‘champion’ or ‘ruler’, strongly points to a provenance in the Caspian region. Though several members of the Bavanid dynasty (8th century until 1349) used these names and titles, this particular combination is not used by any known ruler (Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, Edinburgh, 1996, p.164-5; H.L. Rabino, ‘Les dynasties du Mazandaran de l’an 50 avant l’Hegire a l’an de l’Hegire (572-1597-98) d’apres les chroniques locales’, Journal Asiatique, 228, 1936, pp. 409-37). A tomb inscription in Lajim, Mazandaran, corresponding to the medieval region of Tabarestan, dated 1022 mentions an otherwise unknown patron, Kia Abu’l-Fawaris Shahriyar bin al-‘Abbas bin Shahriyar, with the similar title of “client of the Commander of the Faithful” (André Godard, “Les tours de Ladjim et de Resgest (Māzandarān),” Athar-e Iran vol.I, 1938, pp.109-15). That he was probably not a ruler given his name didn’t include the title Ispahbad (Wilferd Madelung, ‘Āl-e Bāvand,’ Encyclopaedia Iranica), suggests that wealthy patrons were also able to commission luxurious objects such as these bottles.
Tabarestan was already an important centre for silver production under the Sasanian Empire (224-651) and continued to be so in the Islamic period, with silver mines reported by contemporary sources (Michael Spink, ‘Silver,’ Encyclopaedia Iranica; Spink, Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands, London, 2022, p.154). Eva Baer sees the delicately executed spirals in inlaid niello, used by the Sasanians and frequently in early Islamic silverware, as not being older than the late 11th and early 12th century. She describes the way in which “dark scrolls and light silver background function as ornament and background simultaneously, produc[ing] an effect of embroidery” (Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art, Albany, 1983, pp.287-8, figs.230-2).
Foliate kufic inscriptions against such backgrounds are often seen in 11th to 12th century Iranian silver (Boris Marshak, Silberschätze des Orients, Leipzig, 1986, fig.148, no.5). A closely related example is in a bowl in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.73.5.149) dated 1030s or early 1040s from Gurgan, a Caspian province just East of Tabaristan (Marschak, op.cit., no.146). Another example related directly to the Bavanids is a dish in the Khalili Collection (Spink, 2022 op.cit., cat.393) with an inscription of the ruler Husam al-Dawlah (r. ca. 1074-ca.1114). However the calligraphy there is a thicker, non-decorative and old-fashioned kufic (Spink, 2022, op.cit., p.519). Furthermore, amalgam gilding enhanced by niello inlay was often seen, as on our bottles and one in the Freer Gallery attributed to 11th to 12th century (F1950.5; Spink, 2015, op.cit.).
The shape of these bottles is unique. It is related to circular pilgrim flasks produced since antiquity, with suspension loops used to carry drinking water. Given the pre-Islamic affection of rulers in Tabarestan (Peter Webb, ‘Tabarestan,’ The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Online), the patron of our bottles may have drawn from Parthian pottery pilgrims' bottles with concentric decorations, as one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (60.83.5). Adding to this affection are the petal-shaped lobes typical on silver from the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) and seen in metalwork from contemporaneous Khorassan and Sistan in the Khalili Collection (see Spink, op.cit.2022, cats.72-3, 105). Similar arrangements of a central rosette or medallion with an encircling inscription are also seen on later Iranian pilgrim flasks, such as a 14th century Ilkhanid ceramic example attributed to North East Iran and sold in these Rooms, 16 October 2001, lot 247.
The shape of a brass flask in the British Museum, which similarly has a rounded body and cylindrical spout (1883,1019.7) and was attributed to circa 1200 Ghurid Afghanistan, was regarded by Rachel Ward as “unparalleled” (Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, p.72). That parallel is found in our silver bottles, with inscriptions that unquestionably link them to an enigmatic patron from a region in Iran whose material culture remains understudied.
Tabarestan was already an important centre for silver production under the Sasanian Empire (224-651) and continued to be so in the Islamic period, with silver mines reported by contemporary sources (Michael Spink, ‘Silver,’ Encyclopaedia Iranica; Spink, Brasses, Bronze and Silver of the Islamic Lands, London, 2022, p.154). Eva Baer sees the delicately executed spirals in inlaid niello, used by the Sasanians and frequently in early Islamic silverware, as not being older than the late 11th and early 12th century. She describes the way in which “dark scrolls and light silver background function as ornament and background simultaneously, produc[ing] an effect of embroidery” (Baer, Metalwork in Medieval Islamic Art, Albany, 1983, pp.287-8, figs.230-2).
Foliate kufic inscriptions against such backgrounds are often seen in 11th to 12th century Iranian silver (Boris Marshak, Silberschätze des Orients, Leipzig, 1986, fig.148, no.5). A closely related example is in a bowl in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.73.5.149) dated 1030s or early 1040s from Gurgan, a Caspian province just East of Tabaristan (Marschak, op.cit., no.146). Another example related directly to the Bavanids is a dish in the Khalili Collection (Spink, 2022 op.cit., cat.393) with an inscription of the ruler Husam al-Dawlah (r. ca. 1074-ca.1114). However the calligraphy there is a thicker, non-decorative and old-fashioned kufic (Spink, 2022, op.cit., p.519). Furthermore, amalgam gilding enhanced by niello inlay was often seen, as on our bottles and one in the Freer Gallery attributed to 11th to 12th century (F1950.5; Spink, 2015, op.cit.).
The shape of these bottles is unique. It is related to circular pilgrim flasks produced since antiquity, with suspension loops used to carry drinking water. Given the pre-Islamic affection of rulers in Tabarestan (Peter Webb, ‘Tabarestan,’ The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Online), the patron of our bottles may have drawn from Parthian pottery pilgrims' bottles with concentric decorations, as one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (60.83.5). Adding to this affection are the petal-shaped lobes typical on silver from the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC) and seen in metalwork from contemporaneous Khorassan and Sistan in the Khalili Collection (see Spink, op.cit.2022, cats.72-3, 105). Similar arrangements of a central rosette or medallion with an encircling inscription are also seen on later Iranian pilgrim flasks, such as a 14th century Ilkhanid ceramic example attributed to North East Iran and sold in these Rooms, 16 October 2001, lot 247.
The shape of a brass flask in the British Museum, which similarly has a rounded body and cylindrical spout (1883,1019.7) and was attributed to circa 1200 Ghurid Afghanistan, was regarded by Rachel Ward as “unparalleled” (Islamic Metalwork, London, 1993, p.72). That parallel is found in our silver bottles, with inscriptions that unquestionably link them to an enigmatic patron from a region in Iran whose material culture remains understudied.