A PARCEL-GILT REPOUSSÉ SILVER BOWL (TAZA)
Ottoman Balkans, Western Ottoman Provinces, 17th - 18th century

Of circular shape, with pronounced cavetto and raised hemispherical centre (omphalos), the cavetto fully decorated in high relief with a variety of animals including a stag, a fox, a dog, an ibex, a goat and a hare, interspersed amidst lush scrolling vines with grapes, the centre with an applied recumbent stag, its body decorated with vegetal scrolls, three bands of beading from the centre to the rim, 13cm diam.

A variety of these early Ottoman Balkan silver bowls has appeared on the auction market in recent years. For further reference, please see Christie's South Kensington, 11 April 2014, lot 373; and 24 April 2015, lot 354; Christie's London, 26 October 2017, lot 201; Sotheby's London, 24 April 2012, lot 165 and 3 October 2012, lot 250; and lastly, these very Rooms, 25 October 2019, lot 184. They all share common features such as the vegetal and animal decoration in high relief to the cavetto; applied animals, often quadrupeds, to the omphalos; ring-punched grounds; and an overall Byzantine influence in the decorative vocabulary and its articulation.