A TIMURID TINNED COPPER BOWL
Iran or Central Asia, 15th century

Of compressed circular shape, resting on a flat base, with a short reinforced circular rim, the exterior heavily engraved with three overlapping horizontal bands filled with interlocking epigraphic cartouches and decorative roundels, the Arabic inscriptions mostly of religious and honorific content, glorifying Allah and recognising his power and ownership, further prayers and auspicious blessings, the Persian inscriptions instead an extract from Sa'di's Ghat'eh 44, a quatrain focusing on the finitude of human lives and the futility of owning material things, the circular medallions filled with Y-shaped grids, infinite knots, and dense vegetal motifs, 15.5cm diam. and 11.5cm high.