A CHRISTIAN BAPTISMAL SILVER REPOUSSÉ BOWL
Ottoman Greece or Balkans, 19th century

Of circular shape, resting on a straight cylindrical foot with openwork and engraved vegetal decoration, expanding to a widely everted rim worked in openwork and repoussé with eight niches filled with eagles with the wings wide open, interspersed amidst stylised foliate vegetation, 14.8cm diam, 100g weigh.

Possibly used during baptisms, this bowl seems to be connected to the Christian ritual of the blessing of the water. The iconography of the eagle links it to the 18th and 19th-century tradition of Greek and Balcan silver liturgical vessels. For similar vessels, please see Brigitte Pitarakis and Christos Merantzas, A Treasured Memory: Ecclesiastical Silver from Late Ottoman Istanbul in the Sevgi Gönül Collection, Turkey, 2006.