Jug thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Islamic Middle East, Room 42, The Jameel Gallery

Jug

1475-1500 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Iraq (made)
Iran (made)

Copper wares such as this drinking jug were being made when the Safavids came to power. The tinned metal once shone like silver. It would have contrasted strongly with the recessed background, which was filled with a black composition. The inscription around the neck wishes the owner happiness, peace, and ‘a life that lasts so long as the turtle-dove coos’. The text below gives the titles of a Sultan Jalal. The jug once had a handle.


Object details

Categories
Metalwork
Drinking
Object type
Jug
Materials and techniques
Cast copper, tinned with engraved decoration, possibly inlaid with a black composition.
Copper
Cast
Tinned
Engraving
Inlay
Brief description
Jug (mashrabe), tinned copper with engraved decoration and Arabic inscriptions, Iraq or Iran, 1475-1500.
Physical description
Pot-bellied vessel with cylindrical neck, tinned copper, with engraved decoration in horizontal bands including two Arabic inscriptions
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 13.5cm
  • Height: 10.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • (The upper inscription is from an often-quoted Arabic poem offering good wishes for the owner.)
    Translation
    To its owner happiness and peace, and a life that lasts as long as the turtle-dove coos, and lasting glory that shall never be laid low ...
  • ("Jalal" could be the beginning of a name (e.g. Jalal al-Din) or of another title (glory of ...).)
    Translation
    The sultan / most mighty and / the emperor who is glorified, sulta / n of the Arabs and / non-Arabs, Jalal [...]
Gallery label
Jameel Gallery Drinking Jug with Inscriptions Iran or Afghanistan 1475–1500 This jug once had a handle and a bright silver and black colour scheme. The inscription around the neck wishes the owner happiness, peace and ‘a life that lasts so long as the turtle-dove coos’. The text below gives the titles of a Sultan Jalal. Copper engraved, tinned and filled with a black composition Museum no. 433-1876 (2006)
Summary
Copper wares such as this drinking jug were being made when the Safavids came to power. The tinned metal once shone like silver. It would have contrasted strongly with the recessed background, which was filled with a black composition. The inscription around the neck wishes the owner happiness, peace, and ‘a life that lasts so long as the turtle-dove coos’. The text below gives the titles of a Sultan Jalal. The jug once had a handle.
Bibliographic references
  • A.S. Melikian-Chirvani, Le Bronze iranien, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1973, pp.90-91.
  • A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World 8-18th Centuries, London, 1982, p.255, no.113.
  • James W. Allan, "Metalwork of the Timurid Dynasties of Eastern Anatolia and Iran", Iran, XXIX (1991), p.155, pl.XXIVa.
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
433-1876

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Record createdJanuary 13, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108572/jug-unknown/
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