A SILVER-GILT AND NIELLO HANDLED CUP, PERSIA, 11TH/12TH CENTURY
This cup features silver gilding and niello metalwork. Its pear-shaped body includes a re-curved, ear-shaped handle with a bird thumbpiece. The main decorative field is incised and nielloed with a band of entwined arabesque and large palmette motifs in a frieze around the body. Below the rim, a gilt and nielloed epigraphic band contains a minor band of guilloche ornament in gilt. The handle and foot are also gilt, with restorations using transparent resin infill.
Around the neck: "And perfect Pollar and complete odis rate and un lath and excellent od fortune and assisted..."
Around the lower body: "Perpetual Blessing, and excellent Good-fortune and assisted ... and perfect Power and complete [God's) Grace and full Health and Joy'"
This parcel-gilt and nielloed cup is a rare example of early Persian silverware, showcasing a variety of decorative techniques, making it significant both artistically and academically. It can be compared to a jug in the Harari Collection, now in the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem (Hasson 2000, p.41), first published in the Survey (Pope and Ackerman 1938-9, vol. VI, p.1349).
Although the jug in the L.A. Mayer Museum has a more bulbous body and a straight, slightly flared rim, both pieces likely originate from a common model, possibly Sassanian. Another comparable jug is in the Staatliche Museen, Berlin, also dated to the 11th/12th century, with a handle crowned by a leopard, similar to the bird-topped handle on the present jug (Pope and Ackerman 1938-9, vol. VI). The inscriptions on the present jug convey various blessings and wishes of good fortune to an unknown owner. However, the intricate incised and nielloed decoration on the body demonstrates the technical skill and sophistication of silver metalworkers of this period. The surface features a band of interlocking vegetal forms and palmettes against a dense foliate scroll background, with playful stylized faces appearing among these abstract shapes, similar to those found in other media like carved wood and stucco of the period.
13.6 cm. height
Provenance: Private UK collection
