Title: Flask
Date: 10th or 11th century AD
Location: Iran
Materials: silver sheet, hammered and worked in repoussé, engraved and parcel gilt, the ground heavily ring-matted
Dimensions: 32.5 x 12cm
Accession Number: MTW 1117
Other Notes:
The straight neck has a flat, everted rim and two pairs of flanges. The body is divided into lozenges containing three pairs of pheasant-like birds, separated by paired half-lozenges filled with a palmette. The parallels to Sasanian silver, and to the decoration of Sasanian and early Islamic textiles, are clear and suggest that the decorative repertoire of silver was markedly more conservative than of objects in base metal. The form also recurs in glass of a rather later date.
Bibliography:
J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.91, pp.88–9.
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