A mid-20th century Iraqi unmarked silver and niello coffee service on tray, probably Basra circa 1940

Comprising a rectangular tray with rounded corners, a twin handled covered sugar bowl or sucrier, six glass holders (podstakanniki), a pair of sugar tongs and a stirring spoon. The tray with niello decoration centred with the Pol-e Sefid of Ahwaz (White Bridge), cornered with vignettes, of camels and figures against palm trees, a ship at sail and the Taq Kasra (Ruins of Ctesiphon) and the tomb of the Prophet Al-Azir (or Ezra), on the Tigris, all boarded with Greek Key. The sugar bowl of elongated octagonal form with twin scroll handles, the domed lid surmounted by an oval finial. Similarly decorated in niello with the Pol-e Sefid of Ahwaz, Taq Kasra as well as possibly the Mosque of the great Imam Abu Hanifa al in Nu'man, Baghdad. The sugar tongs with bowls formed as hands, the tea glass holder with pierced decporation heighted with niello work of flowers and arabesques. (9)

Tray length – 37.9 cm / 14.9 inches

Sugar bowl length – 16.5 cm / 6.5 inches

Silver weight – 2241 grams / 72.05 ozt

The Pol-e Sefid of Ahwaz was completed in 1936, located on the Karun River, Iran. It is the fourth cantilever bridge in the world. The Taq Kasra appeared in the 1923 three annas stamp of Iraq