Engraved Copper Alloy Dish - LO.653, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 1.1" (2.8cm) high x 7.3" (18.5cm) wide, Collection: Islamic Art, Style:  More »

Engraved Copper Alloy Dish - LO.653, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 1.1" (2.8cm) high x 7.3" (18.5cm) wide, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Seljuk, Medium: Quarternary Bronze.   « Less

Bronze Mortar with Relief and Incised Decoration - LO.652, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 4.625" (11.7cm) high x 5.75" (14.6cm) wide,  More »

Bronze Mortar with Relief and Incised Decoration - LO.652, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 4.625" (11.7cm) high x 5.75" (14.6cm) wide, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Khurasan, Medium: Bronze. Mortar of cast bronze with incised designs decorated with almond and romnbhoid shaped bosses. Bronze mortars were unknown to the cultures of the Mediterranean area and the Middle East in pre-Islamic times and were probably developed in Persia in the 10th century as copies of cruder stone prototypes. Mortars were used for pounding small amounts of food, such as spices or herbs in cookery, and were also an important item of alchemical and pharmaceutical equipment. They were often made of quarternary alloy consisting of coper and lead with some tin and zinc, known in medieval Persia as shabah mufragh. The high content of lead (acting as a flux) allowed an easier casting but gave the objects a softness whose effects are to be seen in the many surviving examples which are mis- shapen though heavy pestle work. Indeed they must have been a rather sinister source of lead poisoning. For a similar mortar see: Hayward Gallery, The Arts of Islam, 1976: pl.181, p.171.   « Less

Bronze Mortar with Incised Decoration - LO.651, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 5.75" (14.6cm) high x 6.25 " (15.9cm) wide, Collection: Islamic  More »

Bronze Mortar with Incised Decoration - LO.651, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 5.75" (14.6cm) high x 6.25 " (15.9cm) wide, Collection: Islamic art, Style: Khurasan, Medium: Quarternary Bronze. In the Islamic tradition, the buraq was a creature said to have transported the Prophet Muhammad to heaven. Described as a white animal, half- mule, half-donkey, with wings on its sides, Buraq was originally introduced into the story of Muhammad's night journey (isra') from Mecca to Jerusalem and back, thus explaining how the journey between the cities could have been completed in a single night. Sometimes mistakenly described as Muhammad's horse, the buraq was a creature described as being part eagle and horse, thus resembling a pegasus. An excerpt from a Sahih Muslim hadith describes a buraq:"I was brought by the Buraq, which is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place its hoof at a distance equal to the range of vision." In literature and art, often portrayed with the face of a woman and the tail of a peacock, the buraq is mostly visible in the sacred manuscripts, where the creativity of the artist was less hampered by religious restrictions. In both a leaf from a copy of the Bustan of Sacdi dated 1514 originally from Uzbekistan and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and a 16th Century manuscript of Khamsa of Nizami in the British Library (London), narrating the Mi'raj, or ascension of the Prophet, Muhammad is depicted on his steed, the buraq. The artist has painted the legendary creature prancing forward as about to take a leap into the Seven Heavens, her human face depicted frontally. Comparable anthropoid depictions of the buraq are known also from many engraved metal vessels dating to the Seljuq period.   « Less

Large Engraved Dish - LO.650, Origin: Transoxiana or Khurasan, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 1.75" (4.4cm) high x 20" (50.8cm) wide, Collection: Islamic art, Style:  More »

Large Engraved Dish - LO.650, Origin: Transoxiana or Khurasan, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 1.75" (4.4cm) high x 20" (50.8cm) wide, Collection: Islamic art, Style: Late Seljuk, Medium: Quarternary Bronze.   « Less

Copper Alloy Ewer - PF.7007, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 12.2" (31.0cm) high x 7.8" (19.8cm) wide, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Seljuk,  More »

Copper Alloy Ewer - PF.7007, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 12.2" (31.0cm) high x 7.8" (19.8cm) wide, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Seljuk, Medium: Quarternary Bronze.   « Less

Bronze Ewer with Fluted Body - LO.642, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 12 th Century AD to 13 th Century AD, Dimensions: 14.5" (36.8cm) high, Collection: Islamic art, Style:  More »

Bronze Ewer with Fluted Body - LO.642, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 12 th Century AD to 13 th Century AD, Dimensions: 14.5" (36.8cm) high, Collection: Islamic art, Style: Islamic, Medium: Quarternary Bronze.   « Less

Copper Alloy Ewer with Incised Decoration - LO.641, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 13.25" (33.7cm) high, Collection: Islamic art, Style: Seljuk,  More »

Copper Alloy Ewer with Incised Decoration - LO.641, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 13.25" (33.7cm) high, Collection: Islamic art, Style: Seljuk, Medium: Quarternary Bronze. Metalwork in the Near East and Central Asia has always enjoyed a prestige beyond that of other applied arts such as ceramics and textiles. Major pieces were specially commissioned and often bear dedications to the princes and great nobles for whom they were made, together with the proudly inscribed names of their makers and decorators; their very durability and impressive appearance give them a high standing and dignity of their own. The best pieces were in bronze, either engraved, inlaid, overlaid or beaten in repousse', that is hammered out from behind of designs to appear in relief on the surface.   « Less

Blue-Glazed Ewer with Moulded and Incised Decoration - PF.7008, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 6.75" (17.1cm) high, Collection: Islamic Art,  More »

Blue-Glazed Ewer with Moulded and Incised Decoration - PF.7008, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 6.75" (17.1cm) high, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Islamic, Medium: Earthenware.   « Less

Lustre-Painted Bowl - LO.647, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 4.75" (12.1cm) high x 10.75" (27.3cm) depth, Collection: Islamic Art, Style:  More »

Lustre-Painted Bowl - LO.647, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 4.75" (12.1cm) high x 10.75" (27.3cm) depth, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Kashan, Medium: Fritware. Lustre painted large bowl depicting a young couple sitting in a landscape made of swirling foliage. The sides and the everted rim filled with concentric registers of foliate kufic inscription reserved in white over a floral scroll. A similar dish with slight decorative differences is in the Khalili collection, where three figures are shown in a highly stylised landscape. There is a number of similar lustre painted dishes and they all represent an interesting mixture of surviving elements of monumental and some characteristics of the already established miniature style in what is soemtimes called 'large-scale miniature style'. Cfr Grube, Cobalt and Lustre,1995: pl.264, p.234.   « Less

Turquoise-Glazed Bowl - LO.658, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 3" (7.6cm) high x 7.125" (18.1cm) depth, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Islamic,  More »

Turquoise-Glazed Bowl - LO.658, Origin: Central Asia, Circa: 1100 AD to 1200 AD, Dimensions: 3" (7.6cm) high x 7.125" (18.1cm) depth, Collection: Islamic Art, Style: Islamic, Medium: Glazed Earthenware.   « Less