SIGNED MUS[T]AFA, PERIOD OF SULTAN MAHMUD I (R.1730-54), OTTOMAN TURKEY, MID-18TH CENTURY

Details

A LARGE SILVER AND PARCEL-GILT PENCASE (DIVIT)
SIGNED MUS[T]AFA, PERIOD OF SULTAN MAHMUD I (R.1730-54), OTTOMAN TURKEY, MID-18TH CENTURY
Of typical form but unusually large and fine, with squat inkwell, the coffered ends and upper and lower sections of the well in gilt decorated with tight niello scrolls and an openwork fringe, the double-hinged gilt lid of the inkwell set with a red paste stone on the outside and the inside repoussé gilt with a calligraphic design of the names of The Seven Sleepers, tughra of Mahmud I stamped on the base of the inkwell and on the side of the penbox, maker's mark stamped on the upper ridge of the pen-box
15 3/8in. (39cm.) long

Provenance

The Berkeley Trust Collection, sold Sotheby's, London, 12 October 2004, lot 92

Literature

Toby Falk, Treasures of Islam, exhibition catalogue, Geneva, 1985, no.174

Exhibited

Treasures of Islam, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva, 1985

Brought to you by

Behnaz Atighi Moghaddam Head of Sale

batighi@christies.com +44 20 7389 2509

Lot Essay

This divit, or scribe’s case, is a large and extremely fine example of the type popular at the Ottoman court from the early 18^th century. Another, very similar in its style and decoration is the Topkapi Saray Muzesi (inv.C.Y.366; published Topkapi à Versailles. Trésors de la Cour ottomane, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, p.167, no.118). Another bearing the tughra of Ahmed III, and dated AH 1139/1726 AD, is in the Bernadete Collection (Garo Kürkman, Ottoman Silver Marks, Istanbul, 1996, p.152-53). Like ours, the interior of the lids of both pencases bear the names of the Seven Sleepers arranged within a star of David. The maker of our pencase is unrecorded.

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