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Lot Essay
Around the neck: Persian verses from the Gulistan of Sa'di
Around the lip: Persian verses, including a couplet from Nizami’s Makhzan al-Asrar
The size of this basin is exceptional. At 61cm. diameter, it is larger than the vast majority of Safavid metal vessels known in public and private collections. It can be compared with another tinned copper basin in the State Hermitage Museum, dated AH 999⁄1590-91 AD, which measures 60cm. in diameter (Ir 2260, Sheila R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas. The Remaking of Iran, exhibition catalogue, London, 2009, no.79, pp.164-65). Canby suggests that the size may indicate that the bowl was used to serve food to large numbers of people. She makes another suggestion - bowls of a related shape appear in paintings used as basins for washing. This seems is a more believable purpose for something so finely engraved. A miniature in the British Museum depicts a gathering of dervishes in a mountainous landscape (ME 1920,0917,0.300, Canby, op.cit., no.80, pp.166-67). The dervishes are shown drinking, washing and sleeping.
For a similar example see A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8-18th Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, London, 1982, pp.317-318, no.143.
A similar monumental Safavid basin was recently sold at Sotheby’s London, 24 October 2018, lot 136.
Around the lip: Persian verses, including a couplet from Nizami’s Makhzan al-Asrar
The size of this basin is exceptional. At 61cm. diameter, it is larger than the vast majority of Safavid metal vessels known in public and private collections. It can be compared with another tinned copper basin in the State Hermitage Museum, dated AH 999⁄1590-91 AD, which measures 60cm. in diameter (Ir 2260, Sheila R. Canby, Shah 'Abbas. The Remaking of Iran, exhibition catalogue, London, 2009, no.79, pp.164-65). Canby suggests that the size may indicate that the bowl was used to serve food to large numbers of people. She makes another suggestion - bowls of a related shape appear in paintings used as basins for washing. This seems is a more believable purpose for something so finely engraved. A miniature in the British Museum depicts a gathering of dervishes in a mountainous landscape (ME 1920,0917,0.300, Canby, op.cit., no.80, pp.166-67). The dervishes are shown drinking, washing and sleeping.
For a similar example see A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8-18th Centuries, Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, London, 1982, pp.317-318, no.143.
A similar monumental Safavid basin was recently sold at Sotheby’s London, 24 October 2018, lot 136.