A PIERCED AND ENGRAVED BRONZE INCENSE BURNER ('OUD SUZ)
Khorasan, Eastern Iran, 10th century

Of composite shape, with a cylindrical well and flat bottom, resting on three legs of rectangular section with sloping feet, surmounted by an openwork semi-dome engraved with grooves simulating ribbing on the back, the front part shaped as a trilobed arch waisted at the bottom, two flat bird heads displayed on the sides of the central cusp surmounted by a faceted, bulbous finial, the lower body engraved with a Greek cross in the centre and repeated twice more amidst three rectangular epigraphic cartouches of bold Kufic script with wide, conical letter slants, the semi-dome engraved with scrolling vegetal meanders and a short wavy band at the top, 8cm diam. and 17.2cm high.

An almost identical example is illustrated in A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World: 8th - 18th centuries, 1982, pp. 42 - 43, cat. 3, inv. no. M.78-1957. Vessels like the present lot appear to have been a standard type of Iranian incense burner for at least two centuries in the Medieval period. The decorative repertoire of our lot can be encountered on a number of Khorasanian bronzes, except for the three puzzling Greek crosses on the lower body.

According to Annabelle Collinet, the presence of aviary motifs at the top of this kind of incense burners could be linked to their use in prophylactic and occult practices. Indeed, in Persian culture, birds were often used to represent the human soul. The location of the bird, then, is not casual: lightened by the fire, lifted by the smoke, and purified by the incense essences, the soul rises to the sky in a newly blessed state (A. Collinet, Précieuses matières: Les arts du métal dans le monde iranien médiéval, Louvre, 2021, pp. 252 - 253, cats. 57 and 58).