This candlestick comes from an area in south-east Turkey with a strong tradition of casting in bronze. When inlaid decoration was introduced from Iran, local metalworkers applied it to objects that had been cast rather than formed from sheet brass. Here the inlay has been used to create medallions with scenes of hunting and revelry interspersed with key-patterns, figures of animals and birds and plant ornament.
For larger motifs metalworkers chiselled out small areas of the surface and filled them with thin sheets of silver, gold and copper. They added details by chasing the surface of the softer metals. They created contrast with a black filler. The results were, for metalwork, an unusually graphic form of decoration, often of great quality.
Physical description
Leaded bronze candlestick, cast and turned; engraved and (partly) inlaid with decoration including medallions with scenes of hunting and revelry, interspersed with key-patterns, animal- and bird-figures, and vegetal ornament.
Place of Origin
Siirt, Turkey (probably, made)
Date
ca. 1250 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Bronze, cast and turned on a lathe, engraved and inlaid with black composition
Dimensions
Height: 19.9 cm, Diameter: 19.6 cm
Descriptive line
Bronze candlestick with inlaid decoration, south-east Turkey (probably Siirt), ca. 1250.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Curatola, Giovanni, 'Draghi', Eurasiatica, n.15 Venice: Universita' degli Studi di Venezia, 1989. pp 168, ill. Fig. 52, text p58
A. S. Melikian-Chirvani, Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World 8th-18th Centuries, London, 1982, pp. 358-60, cat. no. 168.
Chirvani, M. in Islamic Metalwork for the Iranian World, 8th-18th century, 1982, No. 87
Labels and date
Bronze Candlestick
South-east Turkey, probably Siirt
About 1250
This candlestick comes from an area with a strong tradition of casting in bronze. When inlaid decoration was introduced from Iran, it was applied to objects that had been cast rather than formed from sheet brass, as in the case of the twelve-sided candlestick.
Cast bronze inlaid with silver and a black composition
Museum no. M.711-1910. Bequest of George Salting [Jameel Gallery]
Production Note
One of a group of candlesticks attributed to the Sultanate of Rum, which had its capital at Konya (Turkey) and dependencies in Armenia.
Materials
Bronze
Techniques
Engraving; Casting; Turning; Inlay
Subjects depicted
Birds; Animals; Hunting; Roundels; Vegetal decoration
Categories
Metalwork; Lighting
Collection code
MES
