A RARE PAIR OF OTTOMAN SILVER-GILT CANDLESTICKS WITH GREEK INSCRIPTIONS, TURKEY, DATED 1708
Auction Closed
October 23, 04:16 PM GMT
Estimate
25,000 - 35,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A RARE PAIR OF OTTOMAN SILVER-GILT CANDLESTICKS WITH GREEK INSCRIPTIONS, TURKEY, DATED 1708
each of truncated conical form with a splayed base and broad flattened drip-tray, the narrow ringed neck of cylindrical form terminating in a tapering socket, the base decorated with repoussé and engraved with cypress trees flanked by cusped cartouches filled with paired palmettes, the drip-tray engraved with Greek inscription, the base stamped with the tughra of Mustafa II (r.1695-1703), sah marks to base, neck and sockets
(2)
25.5cm. height
Sold in these rooms, 6 October 2010, lot 330.
The inscriptions indicate that the candlesticks were donated to the metropolis church of Kastoria, modern day Macedonia. It is extremely rare to find silverware with the tughra of Mustafa II whose reign only lasted eight years. A silver-gilt candlestick of comparable form is in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul (inv.93 A-B). A silver-gilt mosque lamp dated 1618 from the shrine at Eyüp and now in the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, Istanbul (Petsopoulos 1982, no.52) displays similar gilt cusped cartouches around the body.