A rare Fatimid rock crystal vessel, Egypt, 10-11th century

This rare vessel belongs to a small group of rock crystals of similar size and related form. Their original function was most likely as containers for perfume, though many found their way into European church treasuries and were adapted as reliquaries for the bones of Christian saints.

Church inventories and inscriptions on a few pieces allow us to build up a picture of their date of production and dispersal.  Produced during the heyday of Fatimid power in the late 10th-early 11th century, they were then scattered during the breakdown of law and order in Cairo between 1061 and 1069 and the looting of the royal treasury by Turkish insurgents (Pinder-Wilson, R., in Robinson, B., (ed.), Islamic Art in the Keir Collection, London, 1988, p.289). 

The extent of this vast treasure is documented by the historian, al-Maqrizi, who mentions rock crystal in abundance, and the Persian traveller, Nasir-i Khusrau, also describes seeing rock crystal being worked in the lamp market in Cairo on visits to the city between 1046 and 1050 (ibid., p.189). The existence of a royal workshop is affirmed by the fabulous rock crystal ewers in the Treasury of St Marco, Venice, and The Palazzo Pitti, Florence, as well as the crescent-shaped piece in the Germanisches Museum, Nuremberg, all of which bear caliphal inscriptions (ibid., p.290; Contadini 1998, figs. 15-17, pp.18-19). Many of the smaller items, such as the present lot, must have been used by ladies of the harem for cosmetic purposes.