An Abbasid cast brass Ewer, Persia, 8th century

the body of pear-shaped form standing on a gently splayed foot, the thin neck with a flattened rim in the form of two birds with wings, with a curved ribbed handle surmounted by a bold palmette thumbpiece, the moulded and shallow engraved decoration featuring foliate stems within leafy arcades, with a scrolling vine around the handle and palmettes in the interstices

In overall good condition, some minor dents to body consistent with age, as viewed.
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This ewer forms part of a group of early Islamic ewers characterised by their elegant pear-shaped body and ornate neck, mouth and handle, which as in the present case, are further adorned with incised designs, that are directly related to a prominent example dating back to the eighth century, now in the Historical Museum at Tbilisi, Georgia (Baer 1983, p.192, no.166). Another ewer now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, inv. no. WAG 54.457 (ibid., p.135, fig.13), is of similar shape and design with comparable vegetal scrolls raised in low-relief.

The decoration on the present ewer is exceptional and appears to have been cast in relief with incised outlines and details. In style, it can be compared to a similar ewer now in the David Collection, Copenhagen, inv. no. 17/2001, attributed to ninth-century Iraq or Persia, which is cast in relief but not engraved. Comprising a slightly more globular body and tall cylindrical neck, the unusual decoration on the ewer in the David Collection features sinuous vine motifs that derive from Sasanian models, in the same way in which the depictions on the present ewer, illustrating split-palmettes and stylised foliate stems with similar vines wrapping around the handle, reveal signs of a Sasanian heritage.   

The palmette-shaped thumb-rest on the handle and the stylised bird-heads on the rim of the opening can be compared stylistically to a ewer from eighth-century Khurasan in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. 434-1906), illustrated in Melikian-Chirvani 1982, p.40. As with the overall design, both the V&A piece and the present model with its prominent palmette thumb-rest, derive from earlier Byzantine and Sasanian traditions (for further examples of this style, see Atil 1985, p. 14, no. 4 and p. 63, no. 23).