A large brass candlestick base, Jazira, first half 13th century, with European mounts, circa 17th century
Auction Closed
April 26, 01:36 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 40,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
of truncated conical form, decorated in three horizontal zones, the upper and lower bearing abstract interlace, the central section divided into three registers, the middle panel bearing twelve ogival medallions, six smaller ones with two-headed bird figures, the six bigger ones with geometric floral interlace, the interstices with a scrolling foliate design, the upper and lower panels with knotted Kufic, the top of the candlestick sealed with two sheets of metal soldered to the rim to serve as a base, circular fixtures nailed into the lower base to secure two human-headed fittings, probably 17th century, meant to hold a bucket handle
32.2cm. diam.; 20cm. height
inscriptions
Around the upper band:
‘Perpetual glory and safe life and increasing(?) prosperity … and rising good-fortune and opulent life and favourable time and … luck … and penetrating command and … eternal graces and triumphant victory and long-life to its owner.’
Around the lower band:
‘Perpetual glory and safe life and increasing prosperity and rising good-fortune and opulent life and favourable time and … luck … and penetrating … and well-being …’
Graffito, inside:
‘Endowed to the tomb of Dibaj ibn Filshah, Lord of Gilan, in al-Salihiyyah’
The shape and proportions of this candlestick are related to several other well-known pieces dating to the early thirteenth century. Two intact examples deriving from the Mosul school are in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. 57.148, ascribed to Abu Bakr ibn al-Hajj Jaldak, pupil of the master Ahmad al-Dhaki al-Mawsili, published in L'Orient de Saladin: l'art des Ayyoubides, Paris, 2001, no.15) and in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, signed by Dawud ibn Salama al-Mawsili (inv.no.AD 4414, ibid., p.116, cat.no.99), both displaying a similar straight profile to our piece, although slightly wider. A fragmentary base resembling the present piece is also in the Louvre (cat.no.01.7439). Both share the same shape and dimensions with a base in the Khalili Collection (inv.no.MTW.1252, ibid., p.140, cat.no.114). These candlesticks all display a similar decorative repertoire, consisting of abstract interlace at the top and bottom of the base and the main body divided into three registers, the upper and lower ones most often filled with Kufic inscriptions and the central band with decorated cartouches or medallions.
It is these central arcades which demonstrate the widest range of variations allowing scholars to classify this group of candlesticks. Whilst the examples signed by al-Mawsili masters and the base in the Khalili collection are enriched with elegant figural scenes, the base in the Louvre and the present lot focus on complex geometric knotted patterns on foliage background. The particularity of our base, however, is the repetition of a double-headed eagle motif, a common princely symbol in Jazira during the late twelfth and first half of the thirteenth century.
Like other fragmentary examples, the shoulder of this candlestick was probably hammered as a separate piece-section and folded over the rim, making it more prone to breakage. The resulting floating truncated cylinder with no base must have been a puzzling object for the European craftsmen who inherited it and ultimately flipped it upside down to turn it into a bucket, now missing its handle.
Abu Nasr Dibaj or Dubaj ibn Filshah, to whose tomb this candlestick was endowed, was the ruler of Gilan to whom the celebrated polymath Qutb al-Din Shirazi (d.1311) dedicated his monumental philosophical compendium called the Durrat al-taj fi gurrat al-dubaj. Completed in 1306, the work provides a philosophical discussion on a number of topics including the natural sciences, theology, logic, public affairs, ethics, mysticism, astronomy, mathematics, arithmetic and music.
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