- Title
- Rosewater Sprinkler
- Date Made
- circa 1750-1800
- Medium
- Parcel-gilt silver, cast and filigree
- Dimensions
- a) Top height: 8 in. (20.32 cm)
a) Top diameter: 1 1/2 in. (3.81 cm)
b) Bottom: 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (13.97 x 8.89 x 6.99 cm)
a-b) Overall: 12 3/4 x 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (32.39 x 8.89 x 6.99 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2013.220.7a-b
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Rosewater sprinklers, known as gulab pash, were initially used at the Mughal court in the 16th-17th centuries to celebrate the Iranian festival of Ab Pashi, which commemorated an historical rainfall that ended a drought and famine. A painting depicting the Mughal Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-27) celebrating Ab Pashi in June 1614 is now in the Raza Library, Rampur (Album 1, folio 5a). By the 18th-19th centuries, the use of sprinklers for dispensing rosewater and other scents on honored guests at auspicious occasions had been adopted throughout South Asia and by European residents, with sprinklers being produced in various locales and in a wide range of decorative styles and media.
This rosewater sprinkler typifies the fine filigree work of Odisha (formerly Orissa). It features a large sprinkler head composed of multiple flower petals, with a small tripartite circular collar covering the junction between the nozzle and neck. The long fluted and tapering neck is made of filigree in the bottom 75% and swells to a bulbous bottom. A plain constricted throat leads to a filigree compressed globular collar with bead molding. Six filigree oblanceolate leaves with lobed edges form the shoulders. The flattened, bulbous body has a filigree center design and pierced teardrops bordering the junctions of the surface planes. It has an openwork splayed footring with filigree ovate leaves and a scalloped basal border.