SELJUK ANATOLIA, MID 13TH CENTURY

When the renowned Maghribi traveler Ibn Battuta (d. 1368-9) visited the Anatolian town of Erzincan, he was in awe of the copper candlesticks produced by the town's artisans (A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, "Anatolian Candlesticks: The Eastern Element and the Konya School", Rivista degli studi orientali, vol. 59, Fasc. 1/4, 1985, p. 254). By this time, such candlesticks played an important role in religious life. They were a popular endowment to religious institutions, both for Muslims and the Armenian Christians who made up the majority of the population, the former following the hadith dictating that "He who lights up a luminary in the mosque for seven nights shall be turned away by God the Exalted from the seven gates of Hell and God the Exalted shall illuminate his tomb on the day when he is laid down in it. And on Resurrection Day there shall be light in front of him. And there shall be light on his right. And there shall be light on his left" (Melikian-Chirvani, op. cit., p. 234).

Although candlesticks were often used in religious contexts, the visual repertoire of the present candlestick is unambiguously courtly, with roundels depicting feast and hunt in equal measure. The inscriptions, too, serve the glory and prosperity of the, most likely, royal owner. Nevertheless, in contrast to Mamluk inlaid bronzes, very few works attributable to Anatolia or Iran carry the names of patrons, and no name is inscribed here (Melikian-Chirvani, op. cit., pp. 228-9).

A curious feature of the present candlestick is the inscription inside its base. A.S. Melikian-Chirvani ties the nisba to the town of Ahlat, on the northern shore of Lake Van, a major centre for the arts in Anatolia and, according to the historian Hamdullah Mustawfi Qazvini, writing in 1340, the capital (dar al-mulk) of Armenia Major (Melikian-Chirvani, op. cit., pp. 228, 251-2). The same nisba is also attested on a copper bowl with a comparable visual repertoire inscribed 'work of the master Abu Bakr bin 'Imad al-Khilati' (Melikian-Chirvani, op. cit., p. 249).

That the manufacture and use of such candlestick crossed religious boundaries with ease is borne out by the fact that many examples are inscribed with Armenian endowment inscriptions. Three closely comparable candlesticks are in the Victoria & Albert Museum, one of which is inscribed with an endowment in Armenian (acc. nos M.28-1946, M.35-1923 and M.711-1910). Another candlestick with a later endowment inscription in Armenian dated AH 1077/1666-7 AD sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2023, lot 17.