Hookah Base
1600 - 1650 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This vessel was used as a container for water, to cool the smoke of a water pipe or hookah before the smoker inhaled. Its shape is derived from a type of South East Asian drinking vessel called a kendi. Chinese kendis were exported to the Middle East, where they were used as hookah bases, and Iranian potters then copied and adapted the shape to make vessels like this one.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Fritware painted with cobalt and manganese oxide under the glaze |
| Brief description | Hookah base, fritware, in the form of a Kendi, painted in underglaze blue and black, Iran, 1600-50 |
| Physical description | Vessel in the form of a kendi, with rounded body, flaring neck coming to a narrow opening, and domed 'spout' on one side. Painted in 2 blues and black. A scroll of leaves and four petal flowers run round the flattened rim and its underside. The four panels of the neck are filled with leaves. Seven linked lappets and a band of scrolling flowers and leaves cover the shoulder. On the body three leafy sprays together with bees link three vases with roots and a flower spray. At intervals the painter has used guiding dots to space his composition. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This vessel was used as a container for water, to cool the smoke of a water pipe or hookah before the smoker inhaled. Its shape is derived from a type of South East Asian drinking vessel called a kendi. Chinese kendis were exported to the Middle East, where they were used as hookah bases, and Iranian potters then copied and adapted the shape to make vessels like this one. |
| Bibliographic reference | Crowe, Yolande. Persia and China. Safavid blue and white ceramics in the V&A, 1501-1738. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Page 96, cat. no. 106. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.1958-1910 |
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| Record created | November 27, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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