- Title
- Candlestick
- Date Made
- 13th century
- Medium
- Brass, engraved and inlaid with silver
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 7 in. (17.8 cm ); Height: 6 3/8 in. (16.3 cm )
- Accession Number
- M.73.5.123
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
Sometime toward the middle of the twelfth century, the metalwork industry in Iran underwent a major transformation that was to be of signal importance for its history. Bronze and brass objects were decorated with silver, and/or copper or gold inlay of figural imagery, including scenes of pleasure and pastime, and inscriptions in a variety of scripts offering good wishes to a generally unnamed owner. At its base, this silver-inlaid candlestick is circumscribed by a band of alternating medallions and epigraphic cartouches filled with animated inscriptions in which stylized faces surmount the shafts of the vertical letters or are arranged along the top of the text. Each of the four medallions encloses an image of a musician or a seated reveler, motifs associated with a feast.
- Selected Bibliography
- Collins, Kristen, and Nancy K. Turner, editors. Lumen: The Art and Science of Light, 800-1600. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2024.
