A SAFAVID JADE-SET NIELLOED GOLD SEAL RING, PERSIA, EARLY 16TH CENTURY

the flat jade seal incised with nasta'liq reading 'Khalifa Haydar Quli, slave of the king" and a central lobed cartouche, held by the raised lip of the flat circular bezel, bezel with a couplet from Hafiz in relief within cartouches against a niello ground and separated by gold quatrefoil rosettes, underneath the bezel an incised calligraphic panel formed by the repetition of the word "'Ali" with mubarak bad or "May it be blessed" at the centre, the shoulder and sides with intricately worked foliage in relief against a niello ground

CATALOGUE NOTE

A fine and rare early Safavid gold ring bearing a couplet from a ghazal of Hafiz.

inscriptions

The seal:
In the centre:

khalifa haydar qoli, gholam-e shah

'Khalifa Haydar Quli, slave of the King'

In the borders:

daran ruzi ke dar-manand khalq ...
bovad be-dastam aman-e 'ali ibn abi talib

'On the day [all] men are in a state of helplessness ...
I will have the protection of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib on my hand'

Round the bezel:

az la'l-e to gar yabam angoshtari-e zenhar
sad molk-e soleymanam dar zir-e negin bashad

'If I receive the ring of trust from your vermilion lips
I will have a hundred kingdoms [like that of] Solomon under my seal'

A couplet from a ghazal of Hafiz.

Under the bezel, repetition of 'Ali and in the centre mobarak bad
'May it be blessed'

In all its decorative features, this ring characterises the period of artistic and cultural transition between the two great dynasties: the Timurids and their successors, the Safavids. The ring is of an early sixteenth-century date and Shiite Safavid provenance, as established by the jade seal coupled with the dedication to 'Ali. Other decorative elements such as the foliage with rosettes and lotus are also typical of the early Safavid style and reappear on numerous objects in various media from carpets to book illumination.

Certain other features recall the Turco-Mongolian Timurid tradition such as the seal script beneath the bezel. This distinctive style of inscription appears in Timurid architecture as early as 1370 on the Shah-i Zinda funerary complex, the Masjid-i Jami of Timur (circa 1398-1405) and also on the Gur-i Amir (circa 1400-1404) in Samarqand. Where stylised forms of the words Allah and 'Ali are engraved and nielloed here, in Timurid architectural ornament these features are fashioned out of glazed bricks and set into the exterior walls of the building in the form of mosaic (Lentz & Lowry 1989, fig.5-10, pp.34-42).

The use of niello also conforms to the early Safavid, late Timurid decorative idiom; an example of which is an early sixteenth-century silver bowl, the walls of which are ornamented with gold figures and foliate motifs in relief against a black ground. The bowl is of such outstanding quality that it is believed to have been in the personal possession of Shah Isma'il himself and is one of the only items produced from precious metal that is known to remain from his reign (Thompson & Canby 2003, p.204, fig.8.2). According to contemporary chroniclers, gold was the metal of choice under Shah Isma'il's patronage - despite the lack of extant examples - and he is recorded to have bestowed lavish gifts of gold on his courtiers, visiting merchants and foreign monarchs.

The use of poetry as part of the decorative vocabulary on the bezel is also typical of late Timurid metalwork, where Hafiz (d.1389 or 1390) was the most frequently quoted. Famous throughout the Persian speaking world in his own lifetime, he is said to have had an audience with Timur after his conquest of Shiraz in 1387. It is of particular interest to note here that the same poetical inscription recorded on a late fifteenth-century Timurid jug, is also found on a Safavid bowl of circa 1620-30; illustrating the continuing popularity of Hafiz and the Timurid tradition of poetical quotation on metalwork.