Copper Alloy Bucket - LO.752, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 4" (10.2cm) high, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Khurasan, Medium: Quarternary Bronze. Bucket of cast bronze incised with concentric registers of cursive script, interspersed with round medallions. Metal buckets occured in pre-Islamic cultures in the Middle East and it is likely that the Islamic versions were based on the classical prototype of tapering cylindrical form known to have been produced in Egypt. In Persia, the flat bottomed cylindrical form gave way to a round bottomed one and then to a bucket with a round body, to which a foot was added, like the one here illustrated, common during the 12th and 13th centuries. Although in the past it has been suggested that such vessels should have ben used for carrying hot water in bath-houses, the nature of the material (bronze) and its elaborate decoration and inlays would seem to indicate a use as an ablutions 'basin'. For a comparable example see: Hayward Gallery, The Arts of Islam, 1976: no.179, p. 170.

Antiquities
Ancient Near East