Islamic art treasures — from an incredibly rare Mamluk glass bowl to an early Safavid Persian carpet used at two British coronations

A Mamluk gilded and enamelled glass footed bowl, 14th century

The production of enamel and gilded glass peaked in the Islamic world in the 13th and 14th centuries, and was the speciality of the regions controlled by the Ayyubids and the Mamluks (roughly equivalent to present-day Egypt and Syria).

‘This enamelled and gilded Mamluk glass footed bowl, which dates from the second quarter of the 14th century, is an incredibly rare survivor from the golden era of Islamic glassmaking,’ says Sara Plumbly, head of Islamic and Indian Art at Christie’s in London.

The clear glass body is decorated with blue, red, green, yellow and white enamels and gilded floral, animal and vegetal decoration. ‘Applying intricate enamel decoration to glass vessels was an impressive technical feat,’ says Plumbly. ‘The artisan glassmakers would have had to heat the vessels sufficiently to vitrify the enamel, but not so much that the glass body of the object would melt.’

A footed bowl such as this was probably used either as a drinking vessel or perhaps more likely, given its scale, as a receptacle for fruit or sweetmeats. According to Plumbly, enamelled and gilded glass has always been highly prized for its virtuosity, but collector interest in it is particularly high at the moment. ‘Mamluk enamelled glass objects are among the most desirable and coveted works of art at auction,’ she says. ‘The fact that this footed bowl is both so well provenanced, and in such excellent condition, only adds to its desirability.’

The bowl’s provenance can be traced back to April 1888, when it first appeared at auction as part of the collection of the artist and photographer Albert Goupil, offered at Hôtel Drouot in Paris. It has since had an illustrious line of owners, including the German archaeologist Friedrich Sarre, who included it in the 1910 Munich exhibition Meisterwerke Muhammedanischer Kunst, a landmark moment for Islamic art.

A ‘flower and lattice’ Mughal carpet, circa 1650

This magnificent Mughal ‘flower and lattice’ carpet was woven around 1650, during the reign of Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire. ‘The naturalistic flower and lattice design is typical of the period,’ says Louise Broadhurst, international head of Rugs and Carpets, who explains that Indian artists were influenced by European botanical prints and engravings that were arriving in India at the time. ‘Shah Jahan would also take his court painters to Kashmir, where they would record flowers in a naturalistic way.’

By the mid-17th century, this new, more naturalistic flower style had become a mainstay of Mughal art, architecture and interior decoration. ‘Seeing the flower motif echoed across the palace interiors would have been extremely striking,’ says Broadhurst. What makes this example so remarkable, however, is the quantity of identifiable flowers depicted in the rich red field: thanks to the accuracy of the drawing, it is possible to make out approximately 10 different flowers, including tulips, lilies, carnations and plum blossom.

Mughal lattice carpets are highly prized by collectors and institutions, even when they only survive as fragments. ‘It’s extremely rare to see a carpet like this in one piece,’ says the specialist. ‘At nearly six metres long, it would likely have been used to decorate a large room in one of Shah Jahan’s palaces in northern India.’

At the end of the 19th century, the carpet made its way to America and into the collection of Irma Straus, whose husband, Jesse Straus, inherited Macy’s department store. Straus donated parts of her collection to several American museums, including the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, to which she gifted this carpet in 1960. According to Straus’s 1970 obituary in The New York Times, she was ‘an expert narcissus cultivator’ who ‘often gathered top honors at the annual narcissus show of the Westbury Horticultural Society’. ‘Perhaps it was her passion for flowers that drew her to this remarkable carpet,’ suggests Broadhurst.

A Talpur half-suit of masked armour, late 18th/early 19th century

Talpur suits of armour were primarily worn by the soldiers and elite cavalry of the Mirs of the Talpur dynasty, who ruled the region of Sindh in India (now a province of southern Pakistan) from 1783 until 1843. This half-suit of armour, which is made from chainmail as well as steel, iron and copper plates, forms part of a small group of luxurious armour produced at the Talpur court in the late 18th or early 19th century. ‘The fine floral patterns on the plates suggest that it was probably made for a royal guard,’ says Plumbly. ‘An assembly of soldiers dressed in such armour would have communicated both the power and the great wealth and prowess of their patron.’

‘Only a handful of these distinctive Sindh armours with masks survive, so it’s incredibly rare to see one in such excellent condition at auction,’ notes Plumbly. Comparable examples can be found in the Museo Stibbert in Florence and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Holms Hepburn coronation carpet, 17th century

This Safavid carpet — woven during the reign of Shah Abbas (r. 1588-1629), the fifth Safavid shah of Persia — perfectly exemplifies the decorative vocabulary and style of the time. The red field features a classic Safavid ‘in and out palmette’ design, while the blue border features a more unusual design of alternating red and yellow cartouches and ivory stellate medallions. ‘Prized for their intricate patterns, natural dyes and craftsmanship, such carpets became symbols of wealth and cultural sophistication and were woven as diplomatic gifts for European royal court members,’ says Louise Broadhurst.

By the early 20th century, the carpet had entered the collection of the renowned art-dealing brothers Henry and Joseph Duveen, who were commissioned to provide tapestries and carpets for the coronation of Edward VII at Westminster Abbey in 1902. This carpet, one of three they provided for the event, would originally have been much longer than it is now. ‘It was likely adapted into a square to fit the dais at Westminster Abbey,’ explains Broadhurst.

It was later used at the coronation of King George V in 1911, and at the wedding of Princess Mary and Henry Lascelles in 1922. ‘We know from the labels stitched onto the back of the carpet that it was placed beneath the Coronation Chair where both kings sat for the moment of their crowning,’ says Broadhurst. ‘It’s incredible to think that it has been a silent witness to three major historical ceremonies.’ In 1939, the carpet was purchased by Charles Hepburn, who subsequently donated it to Glasgow Cathedral, where it was placed over the tomb of St Mungo, the city’s patron saint.

View of the Taj & the River Jumna from the West, 1815

In 1813, the Marquess of Hastings arrived in India to assume the post of Governor-General of Bengal. He soon embarked on a seven-month tour of the country with his wife and children, during which he met Indian rulers and viziers of the key states, and visited the most famous architectural landmarks of north India, including the Taj Mahal.

Lord and Lady Hastings commissioned the Indian artist Sita Ram — described by the art historian Jerry Losty as ‘the most brilliant and versatile Indian artist of his time’ — to document the trip in paint. Between 1813 and early 1817, Sita Ram produced 229 paintings of Indian views and monuments, which were subsequently grouped and bound in a series of 10 albums. This watercolour of the Taj Mahal (1815) belonged to an album of 23 paintings entitled Views by Seeta Ram from Secundra to Agra, Vol. IX. ‘Paintings of landscapes, and in particular architecture, were Sita Ram’s forte,’ says Plumbly. ‘He excelled in technical drawings of monuments and their interiors, of which this is a beautiful example.’

A gem-set gold-mounted dagger (jambiyya) and scabbard, 19th century

This sumptuously decorated dagger was probably produced in Hyderabad, India, in the third quarter of the 19th century. It features a double-edged steel blade, and a gold hilt and scabbard set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds arranged in floral, bird and geometric motifs. ‘Daggers of this design, known as a jambiyya, originate from the Arabian peninsula,’ says Plumbly. ‘This example would likely have been a ceremonial dagger intended to convey the wearer’s wealth and social standing.’

As a result, the rulers from the Shahnama (an epic poem whose title means ‘Book of Kings’) were increasingly well known, and Sultan Ahmad Shah Qajar (r. 1909-1925), the seventh and final ruling member of the Qajar dynasty, was presented as the inheritor of an immensely long and important tradition. This shift in status was reflected in works of art from the period, such as this Kirman Masha'ir carpet, in which the Shah is depicted among more than 100 of the world’s most historically significant figures, including Jesus and Napoleon I.

We know from an inscription beneath the portrait of the Shah that the carpet was woven by Muhammad ibn Ja’far (1870-1910), the celebrated master weaver who established his workshop in Kirman and who, in his lifetime, became known as the ‘King of Persian Rugs’. ‘The products of his workshop were characterised by the use of fine kurk wool and intricate designs, many of which were of a pictorial nature,’ says Broadhurst. ‘The large scale, rich palette and high level of detail on this carpet are particularly striking.’

Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Rugs and Carpets is on view alongside The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Indian Painting and Calligraphy, from 24 April 2026 at Christie’s in London