A BRASS TRAY WITH MOTHER ARMENIA AMONG THE RUINS OF SIS
Qajar Iran, ca. 1880 - 1920

Of rectangular shape with an everted, reinforced rim, the incised and chased decoration featuring a central lobed cartouche with a young maiden, Mother Armenia, seated on top of the rubble and ruins of Sis, the capital of the ancient Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia fallen in the hands of the Mamluks in 1375, marking the annexation of Christian Armenian independent territories into the Islamic Mamluk Sultanate, flanked by two crescentic epigraphic cartouches in Armenian script identifying the scene, reserved against concentric panels with typical motifs of Qajar silver and brass vessels including birds amidst dense vegetal meanders and foliage, 33.5cm x 48cm.