Ewer10th-11th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Ewer
Place Made: Iran or Afghanistan
Date Made: 10th-11th century
Medium: Bronze, cast and engraved
Dimensions: 10 x 4 in. (25.4 x 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.87.57
Classification: Metal
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Bronze vessels of this type attest to the high degree of skill and sophistication among early Islamic metalworkers and should probably be regarded as luxury wares. While the shape is related to Late Antique silver vessels, bronze ewers such as this would have had significant material value in their own right as sizable examples of worked metal. This ewer also follows a long-standing practice in Iran of creating zoomorphic vessels. The body is surmounted by a bull-headed spout, which must have provoked a sense of delight and even mirth whenever liquid was poured from it. On one of the vertical flutes is an inscribed “signature” with the name Ahmad.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Komaroff, Linda. Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005.
Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.

Related Unframed

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Ewer
Place Made: Iran or Afghanistan
Date Made: 10th-11th century
Medium: Bronze, cast and engraved
Dimensions: 10 x 4 in. (25.4 x 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection, gift of Joan Palevsky
Accession Number: M.87.57
Classification: Metal
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Bronze vessels of this type attest to the high degree of skill and sophistication among early Islamic metalworkers and should probably be regarded as luxury wares. While the shape is related to Late Antique silver vessels, bronze ewers such as this would have had significant material value in their own right as sizable examples of worked metal. This ewer also follows a long-standing practice in Iran of creating zoomorphic vessels. The body is surmounted by a bull-headed spout, which must have provoked a sense of delight and even mirth whenever liquid was poured from it. On one of the vertical flutes is an inscribed “signature” with the name Ahmad.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Komaroff, Linda. Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005.
Lo Terrenal y lo Divino: Arte Islámico siglos VII al XIX Colección del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Ángeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural La Moneda, 2015.