A FINE SELJUK SILVER AND COPPER-INLAID BRONZE INKWELL
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
Eastern Iran or Herat, 12th - 13th century

Of cylindrical shape, resting on a flat circular base, the lid with a gently inverted rim, three hinged loop handles on the sides, and a lobed dome-like central boss rising to a central knob, the lid and body fully engraved and clad in silver and copper inlay, the decoration on the body consisting of two calligraphic bands in pseudo-thuluth and Kufic scripts on the edges flanking a wide horizontal band with a banqueting scene typical of Herati metalwork with figures playing lutes, drums, clapping, serving drinks or holding cups and ewers in their hands, their limbs, faces and accessories all inlaid in semi-precious metals, minute holes on this band suggesting the previous existence of three loop handles matching the ones around the lid, now missing, the lid with a band of silver-inlaid square pseudo-Kufic around the rim, proto-animated-Kufic script at the top around the edge, and drop-shaped medallions filled with rosettes on the boss, the base engraved with a copper-inlaid star-shaped medallion filled with a Kufic script epigraphic inscription reading the standard line 'All Property Belongs to God' and a rosette in the middle, the internal drip-tray pierced, 7cm diam. and 11cm high.

For an analogous Seljuk silver and copper-inlaid bronze inkwell, please see the David Collection in Copenhagen (Inv. no. 32/1970). The dimensions and decorative vocabulary of the two inkwells are almost identical. The loop handles (now missing from the body of our lot but surviving on the lid) would have once been attached with chains so that the inkwell could be carried on a belt.

It is very common for bronze inkwells dating to this period to be decorated with scenes from a carefree courtly life such as banquets and musicians. The calligraphic bands often tend to repeat auspicious wishes for their owners and phrases from the holy scriptures. This decorative program links these fine metalwork creations with Seljuk mina'i ceramics produced around the same time in Iran.