Estimate
35,000 - 45,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
the body of spherical form on a short splayed foot, with a slender, curved faceted neck, cylindrical mouth and flat rim encircled by two stylised bird heads, the curvilinear handle with a zoomorphic terminal and palmette thumb-rest, two straight spouts to the front engraved near the body with floral stems
38.4cm. height
Sotheby's, London, 25 April 2012, lot 497
The palmette-shaped thumb-rest on the handle and the stylised bird-heads on the rim of the opening can stylistically be compared to a ewer from eighth century Khurasan in the V&A Museum (inv. no.434-1906), illustrated in Melikian-Chirvani 1982, p.40. Both the V&A piece and the present model with its prominent palmette thumb-rest derive from earlier Byzantine and Sassanian traditions. This particularly sculptural example features a double-spout and a relatively small number of examples with two spouts are recorded (see Pope 1938, pl.244 for an example in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and another sold in these rooms, 6 October 2010, lot 129). Their rarity suggests that this was a fashion that did not last long following the Sassanian period.
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