Inscribed: In Persian,
"May the world be as you desire, the heavens your aid.
May the Creator of the world be your protector.
May all that you do be according to your wish
May the Lord of the World be your guardian.
The poor Muhammad Rafi' wrote this, mercy be upon him."
Read and translated by Michael Chagnon
Small oval-shaped amuletic case, with a hinged, slightly-domed lid, in gold with repoussé and engraving and polychrome enamel decoration. Decoration depicts flowers - including a central rose, poppies, and other species - on top of lid, and birds and flowers on side of the body. The decoration loosely falls into the gol o bolbol, or bird-and-flower, motif that found great popularity in Iran during the Safavid period and which culminated in the decoration of lacquer objects under the Zand and Qajar dynasties. The base decorated with blue enamel and gold flowers, and the inside of the lid with green enamel. The two small suspension loops indicate the amuletic function.
Alabaster relief with carved depiction of an Iranian king seated on his throne; behind him, an attendant with a fan and a standing bodyguard with spear. In front of the throne, another bodyguard shown in rear view, with spear. Although it is likely created in the late XIXth century A.D., it is in the style of Vth-IVth century B.C.
Condition: Intact. Back of relief is concave and was pierced for suspension. False staining removed from surface in January 1956. Treated 4/2/1991, see conservation file for details.
Luster painted beaker, pear-shaped body and short cylindrical neck, deep flaring hollow foot, strap handle with button thumb rest. Decorated in light brown luster on an opaque white glazed ground with touches of blue glaze. Belly has four seated figures in elaborately embroidered robes, foliate cartouches between them, and a background of small scrolling motifs; inscriptional frieze in Persian naskhi script below, while symbols imitate Kufic script inside the rim. Handle has striped motifs.
A vessel in the form of a hemisphere whose flat section serves as the back of the bird. A simple head with pellet eyes rises from one side and a short stubby tail flares out on the opposite side. The columnar base of the vessel is the mouth by which the vessel is filled. The walls of the base continue upward within the vessel forming a sort of interior well or dam. When the vessel, which must be inverted to be filled, is turned upright the liquid remains inside without a plug in the base. An opening in the beak serves as a spout from which the liquid may be poured. The sides of the vessel are incised to suggest wings while a series of regular gouges on the back indicates feathers. The beak and eyes are painted and a stripe runs over the head and down the neck to the back. Painted streaks parallel the gouges on the back, and the incised lines of the wings are also painted.
Flask, flattened body, with a tall neck cut down. The surface of the flask is molded; it is painted under a discolored transparent glaze in cobalt blue with black outlines. The rough base is unglazed. The decoration is reserved on a blue ground and outlined in black. On one side stands a man with an animal round his shoulders; to the left, a woman kneels before him, offering him a cup. The man wears a European costume - a doublet with a ruff and a hat. The woman is more simply dressed in Persian style. Between the figure is a tray of fruit and a glass (?) flask. In the background are flowers and shrubs of different kinds, birds and cloud-scrolls. The other side is decorated with a hunting scene. A man in European costume fires at a hare (?) with his gun; on the right is a wounded crane. From his waist hangs a powder horn in the form of a bird's head and a bag. The background consists of flowers, leaves, and cloud-scrolls.
Sasanian; A tall piriform vessel with a tiny ring base and a tall neck separated from the body by an incised line with pendant lines. A roughly molded ram, or perhaps water buffalo, head is applied to the one side of the body slightly below the midpoint. An impressed circular punch marks the animal's forehead and additional punches decorate the body of the vessel.
Inscribed: A partial reading of the inner inscription (in Persian) band is: "Oh you whose intent is to hurt me for months and years, who are free from me and cheerful at the anguish of my heart. You promised me not to break your promise anymore, it is I, dear, who have caused this break." (Bahrami 1949, 120).
Translated by Wheeler Thackston on 12/30/09:
Chun nist darin zamana-i 'ahdshikan
yak dost ki 'aqibat nagardad dushman.
Tanha'i kunun guzinam daman
ba khweshtanam khwashast z' in pas man man.
Since in these days of infidelity there is friend who does not eventually become an enemy,
I now choose to wrap myself in solitude and henceforth amuse myself by myself.
Ay zarif-i jahan salam 'alayk
Inna da'i wa-sihhati bi-yadayk.
Gar ba khidmat namirasam chi 'ajab>
Inna r-ruha wa'l-fu ada ladayk.
Daru-yi dard-i banda chist bigu.
Qablatan law ruziqtu min shafatayk.
Gar ba yak roz sayd-i khwad-ra guft
Qum sahihan fa-qala dhaka 'alayk.
Az tu ayam bar-i tu ham ba fighan
Ah wa'l-mustaghathu minka ilayk.
O most graceful one in the world, peace be with you: my misery and health are in your hands.
If I cannot come to see you, why should that be strange? My spirit and heart are with you.
Tell me what the remedy for my pain is. If only I could be given a kiss from your lips. If only one day you would say to your prey, "Arise in health," and then would say, "It is yours."
I come into your embrace with a complaint of you. Alas, the one asked for help against you is dependent upon you.
Ay ray-i tu sal u mah azurdan-i man
farigh zi man u shad ba gham-khwardan-i man
Gufti nakunam ba tu digar bad'ahdi
in tez nakardan-i tu dar gardan-i man.
O you whose intention it is to torment me for years and months,
Unconcerned with me and happy over my sorrow.
You said, "I won't break my promises to you any longer."
This not sharpening of yours is also on my neck.
Oval strip of gold foil repousse design of spirals and palmettes on both sides. Incomplete design in center of one long side suggests an original extension in this area. Opposite side near center has slit or crack ca. 2.5 cm long, with small loss of metal for ca. 2/3 its length. Another slit on this side near end appears to have been rejoined. Condition otherwise appears good.
A conical horn tapers downward from a flat cuff at the top to a curving terminal that forms a simplified deer head. The head has a pronounced convex profile with a protruding upper lip and a concave underside. The edges of the jaws are sharply modeled and between them a small round hole allows the liquid to run out. Short branching antlers and naturalistically modeled ears extend at right angles to the axis of the vessel. In contrast to these three-dimensional forms, the almond-shaped eyes have essentially flat rims with shallowly incised outlines and canuli. The shape and balance of the entire vessel allows it to support itself only if stood upside down on its rim.
Large plate with a low wide foot, a rounded marly and a narrow spreading rim. Cream white porcelaineous ware covered with a white slip and a transparent colorless glaze which stops on the foot and covers the base, and decorated on the cavetto with a circular medallion enclosing a curious version of a Chinese dragon, set open a field of an all-over pattern of floral and arabesque tracery and on the marly with repeat pendant trefoil medallions, which enclose lotus leaves and stylized lotus flowers and are connected with scalloped bands, from which hang lotus flowers and tassels, all in a pale blue under the glaze. The rim has a border of jasmine flower vines and the back is decorated with wavy vines of foliated arabesques and lotus flowers in underglaze blue. The base has an indistinct potter's mark in underglaze blue and the foot is chipped.
Molded nude figure with full, rounded upper arms and hips, articulated on the front only. Hands support small breasts; between them falls a pendant hanging from chevron-patterned straps which continue, crossing the body, below the arms; a triple ridged bracelet decorates each wrist; the naval is elongated vertically; below it are three raised folds of flesh and a large pubic triangle decorated with rows of raised dots.
Condition: Head and lower legs missing, worn chips along the edges, large worn chip from the figure's right arm.
A simplified bull's head that tapers to a round flat muzzle whose disk-like rim and large circular nostrils give the head a porcine appearance. The broad flat forehead, the broken stubs of curving horns and protruding ears, and the sharp edge of the jaw emphasize the bovine character of the animal. In keeping with the simplified style of the whole, the eyes have large circular rims and somewhat hemispherical centers. The tapering, almost conical neck has regular ridges that run diagonally across the sides of the neck. These ridges meet under the neck in a slight v with a vertical undulating flange that indicates the dewlap. The back of the neck is smooth.
Large heavy rectangular textile, cut on all sides, of brocaded plain compound twill weave silk. The fabric has two warps and two wefts. The warps are white and red, and the wefts are silver and white. The ground of the face is made by the silver wefts, which are held in place by the white warps. The textile is brocaded with a large rosebush, bird and butterfly group arranged in drop repeat, done in red, yellow, green and dark blue silk and gilt threads.
The brocading is bound down in twill by the red inner warp, which thus appears on the surface. This warp never appears on the back, which is white twill, save on the brocaded areas, which are covered by floats of the silver weft. The diagonal lines of the twill run on the face from the lower right to the upper left. A few of the silver weft threads are broken, and the red brocading and the red warps are worn away on a number of places, revealing the white warps and wefts in twill weave beneath.
The textile is mounted on a board placed on wooden frames and glazed.
This mirror case bears the allegorical signature of the renowned eighteenth-century lacquer artist `Ali Ashraf: “After Muhammad, `Ali is noblest.”
(Exhibit text, Islamic Galleries, June 2009, L. Akbarnia)
Octagonal mirror case consisting of a frame and a hinged cover with a mirror. As in most Persian lacquer, this piece is made of papier-mâché and is covered with painted designs against a black ground. The edges are decorated with minute repeated stylized leaf and flower patterns in gold on a black ground.Signed: Signed: "Zi ba'd-i Muhammad 'Ali Ashraf ast (after Muhammad is `Ali Ashraf)" - the allegorical signature of 'Ali Ashraf.
An ostrich egg, with metal fittings having a small flared neck on one end and a narrow tubular neck on the other end. The metal fittings are incised with animal features--possibly a ram (?).
Pear-shaped with long neck, six reserves with foliated design in ruby luster and underglazed paints in turquoise and cobalt blue border bands. Bears "no.46" mark.
Decorated on all 6 sides as well as the inside of the top with motifs. Remainder of the case inside is covered with lacquered marbleized paper. Motif on the top of the box, which covers the entire surface, is a battle scene on horseback framed by a narrow boarder of gold dots arranged in squares against a maroon ground. Beneath the maroon border is a slightly wider one of a gold flower rinceaux against a black ground. On the front of the box is a landscape whose central scene is of 2 shepherds and a flock of sheep. The front center hinge partially covers one of the figures. On the short sides are other landscape scenes with horses and attached to the sides are small chains that hold up the cover. The bottom of the box has a covering of gold floral rinceaux against a maroon ground surrounded by a narrow floral border against a black ground. The inside cover has a center oval enclosing a half figure view of a young woman with an exposed bosom holding a vase of flowers in her right hand. On either side of the female figure is a landscape with water and bridges.
A circular disk pendant (shamshatu) with impressed sun design around a central raised circle and having raised circles between each ray. Impressed dots surround each raised circle.
In the "a" tile, the left most diamond in the center semi circle is more of an aspen leaf shape than a diamond. In the "b" tile, the left most diamond in the center semi circle appears more like a square, and is inset a bit from the edge of the tile.
A rectangular tray having tall sides with toothed edges. The two long sides have two triangular holes each and the two shorter sides have one each. The four corners each terminate in a curving bird's head with a raptor-like beak.
Silver handle from a large vessel. Form, a bounding Ibex with front legs folded under body; horns in the round with tips attached to ears. Lower end of handle terminates in palmette (lotus?). Cast, with hollow channel through handle and opening at each end. Possibly related to 54.50.39.
Condition: Right horn mostly lost as is right ear. Otherwise excellent condition. Surface had been extensively cleaned before object was received in Brooklyn.
Condition: Right horn mostly lost as is right ear. Otherwise excellent condition. No certain traces of an original attachment to vessel could be detected.
Silver handle from a large vessel. Form, a faceted body with curved end terminating in lion's head with open mouth. Lower end of handle terminates in palmette (lotus?) with two buds. Cast solid (?). Possibly related to 54.50.38.
A tall vessel with an oval, almost bag-like body, a somewhat elongated neck with an everted rim and a pair of narrow curving handles that spring from the oblique shoulder to the neck. The lower portion of the vessel splits into two legs with well-modeled feet. Details such as ankle bones and the arch of each foot are rendered by modeled forms rather than incised lines. The overall effect is that of a wine- or waterskin rather than a ceramic vessel. It is likely that this association was intentional- as the light porous ceramic body of the vessel allows water to evaporate slowly through the sides, thus slightly cooling the remaining contents.
Blue wine goblet with Persian inscriptions in white enamel enclosed in oval wreaths of gilding. The oval wreaths are repeated three times; between each are pairs of flowerets in white enamel.
