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14th C Fars Candlestick Christie's

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Sale Title ISLAMIC ART AND MANUSCRIPTS

Location London, King Street Sale Date Apr 29, 2003
Lot Number 75 Sale Number 6713
Creator South Iran, second quarter 14th century

Lot Title A FARS SILVER AND GOLD INLAID BRASS CANDLESTICK

Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 British pounds
Special Notice No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis
Lot Description A FARS SILVER AND GOLD INLAID BRASS CANDLESTICK
South Iran, second quarter 14th century
With slightly waisted truncated conical base, slightly sunken flat shoulder, tubular neck, and tapering cylindrical mouth, the body engraved and inlaid with a band of figural roundels each depicting a seated monarch flanked by four attendants, divided by smaller figural quatrefoil panels, on a ground of foliage, a band of gold-inlaid inscription above and below, the shoulder and base with meandering foliate designs, the shoulder with bird and flower quatrefoil panels dividing groups of three figures between bands of inscriptions, the neck with interlaced strapwork forming an arcade containing figures, the mouth with inscription, some areas of damage and plain brass restoration, lip missing
12 3/8in. (31.5cm.) high

Lot Notes The particularly poetic benedictory inscriptions are as follows:
Around the mouth:
al-'izz wa al-nasr ...., al-jud [wa] al-majd wa..., al-ni'am wa al-iqbal wa ," (Glory and success ... generosity [and] splendour and ... graces (of God) and propsperity and"
Around the neck:
(a)li-sahibihi a , l-sa'ada [wa] a , l-sala[ma wa] tul , al-'umr ma nahat , hamama fa-la za[llat] fi zill al-sa'ada"(?) (May there be felicity and well-being and long life to its owner as long as the dove coos, and may he always be under the shadow of felicity).
Around the shoulder:
al-'izz wa al-nasr wa , al-jud wa al-i , qbal wa al-da'im , al-ni'am wa .... , al-'ilm ....., al-hilm wa ... al-karam ... , al-ifdal wa , al-haya wa ... , al-sakha wa ... , al-qudrat ... , ... (GLory and success and generosity and prosperity and perpetuity and graces (of God) and knowledge and forbearance and liberality and eminence and modesty and open-handedness and strength ...). The dotted sections represent alifs and lams which have been inserted to complete each cartouche and do not appear to have any meaning.
Around the body, upper band:
"al-'izz al-da'im , (a)li-sahibihi al-sa'ada [wa] , al-salama wa tul , al-'umr ma nahat hamama , fa-la za [llat] fi zill al-sa'ada" (perpetual glory, may there be felicity and well-being and long life to its owner as long as the dove coos, and may he always be under the shadow of felicity)
Around the body, lower band:
"al-'izz wa al-nasr wa , al-jud wa al-majd , [wa] al-ni'am wa al-karam , [wa] al-iqbal [wa] al-'ilm" (Glory and success and generosity and splendour and graces (of God) and liberality and prosperity and knowledge).

The decoration of this candlestick is typical of that of Shiraz in the fourteenth century. The angularity of the Chinese inspired lotus designs and the attenuation of the figures in the roundels can both be seen in a number of vessels of this origin. A candlestick formerly in the Hariri Collection signed and dated 1360 has very similar floral panels (Pope, A. U.: A Survey of Persian Art, Oxford, 1938, pl.1371), while the figures are particularly close to those on a bowl formerly in the Cartier Collection (Pope, op.cit, pl.1378). They are also undoubtedly much more stylised, but in the groupings of four attendants flanking a central enthroned figure they recall the magnificent candlestick made for Abu Ishaq now in Qatar (Allan, James W.: Metalwork Treasures from the Muslim Courts, Doha, 2002, pp.34-39).

The poetic form of the benedictory inscriptions, and particularly the phrase "until the dove coos", can also be found on a candlestick in the Metropolitan Museum of Art attributed by Eva Baer to Mesopotamia but re-attributed to Fars by Melikian-Chirvani, and on a Fars bowl in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Melikian-Chirvani, A.S.: Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th-18th centuries, London, 1982, note 67. p.156 and no.97, pp.211-213). The gentleness of these inscriptions is in marked contrast to the generally extremely turbulent times in Fars throughout most of the century.

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