Kalian
1625-1675
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This ceramic vessel is a ‘kalian’ or base for a water-pipe used in the newly introduced practice of smoking tobacco. It held the water through which the smoke was drawn in order to cool it using a long flexible tube connected to a container through two holes. They are also known as a hookah, huqqa, qalian, qalyan, qaliyan, narghile, shisha, and a hubble-bubble.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Fritware, slip-painted, glazed |
| Brief description | Kalian (water-pipe base), fritware, ovoid with a pierced opening on the top and shoulder, covered with reddish-brown glaze and painted in white slip; Iran, 1625-1675. |
| Physical description | Kalian or base for a water pipe (hookah) of fritware, of ovoid shape, and pierced with a hole on the top and another smaller on the upper shoulder, and covered in rust-coloured wash and painted in white slip, and centered around the upper orifice with a six-pointed star terminating in shield-shaped palmettes filled in with arabesques, and covered in a thin clear matte glaze, possibly misfired. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Credit line | Given by C. M. Marling, Esq. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This ceramic vessel is a ‘kalian’ or base for a water-pipe used in the newly introduced practice of smoking tobacco. It held the water through which the smoke was drawn in order to cool it using a long flexible tube connected to a container through two holes. They are also known as a hookah, huqqa, qalian, qalyan, qaliyan, narghile, shisha, and a hubble-bubble. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1012-1905 |
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| Record created | February 19, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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