* A PORCELAIN WATER PIPE (QALYAN) BOTTLE AND STEM CUP
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTOR
Possibly France and Iran, dated 1299AH (1881-2)

Comprising a typical bell-shaped water pipe base, resting on a circular foot and rising to a tapering ringed neck, with a reinforced rim, the white porcelain body painted in fuchsia, gold and polychromes, the decoration consisting of a band of four gilt-framed oval roundels, two larger and two smaller, each filled with floral motifs against a light yellow ground, interspersed with gilt Western-inspired floral festoons and sprays, with a similarly decorated stem cup to hold the brazier, two medallions with black nasta'liq calligraphy, one inscribed to Haji Sayyid Ibrahim Tajir Kashani, dating 1299AH (1881-2), the bottle 26cm high, the stemp cup 16cm high.

This water pipe is likely to be a European export market production (France and Germany) targeted to and commissioned by an Iranian audience. The European origin is betrayed not only by the choice of the material (i.e. porcelain was not produced in Iran), but also by the style of the decoration. Similar water pipes would have been considered a lavish exotica piece in the 19th and 20th-century Qajar Iranian homes. Noteworthy of mention is the fact that the use and design of this water pipe were very foreign to European potters, who possibly drew their inspiration for the shape from 19th-century French pottery lamp stands.