Not currently on display at the V&A

Candlestick (shamdan)

Candlestick
1200-1250 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (made)
Place of origin
Iran (made)

Candlestick, cast brass with engraved and silver inlaid decoration, including conventional blessings in Arabic, and a frieze depicting planets and Zodiac constellations, western Iran, 1200-1250


Object details

Categories
Islam
Lighting
Metalwork
Object type
Candlestick
TitleCandlestick (shamdan)
Materials and techniques
Cast brass, engraved decoration and silver inlay. Patina: brown with patches of smooth red oxide showing the object to have been excavated; extensively cleaned off one half of the object, laying bare the ochre yellow of the brass. Green deposits along the edges of the underside surface of the dished area.
Brass
Silver
Inlaid
Hatched
Brief description
Candlestick, cast brass with engraved and silver inlaid decoration, including conventional blessings in Arabic, and a frieze depicting planets and Zodiac constellations, western Iran, 1200-1250
Physical description
Candlestick, cast brass with engraved and silver inlaid decoration, including conventional blessings in Arabic, and a frieze depicting planets and Zodiac constellations, western Iran, 1200-1250
Dimensions
  • Height: 19.55cm
  • Of base diameter: 19 - 19.1cm
  • Of shoulder diameter: 14.3cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • (Persian; naskhi; upper inscription around the nozzle; engraved)
    Translation
    Might and lasting life, laudation and praise! Magnificence, elevation and splendour! Godliness, beneficence, and praise!
  • (In the dished area)
    Translation
    "undeciphered"
  • (The third epigraphic band engraved on the upper part of the body.)
    Translation
    Might and lasting life, laudation and praise magnificence and grandeur
  • (Fourth inscription at the bottom of the incurving volume)
    Translation
    Might and lasting life, laudation and praise, magnificence and grandeur godliness and beneficence, forbearance and reserve, and A! knowledge and fidelity and A! and lasting life to its owner
  • (last inscription on the base)
    Translation
    'with bliss' repeated several times
  • (naskhi; An 18th or 19th century engraving of the owners name over the sign of Sagittarius)
    Translation
    Muhammad
Gallery label
CANDLESTICK Cast iron, with engraved decoration and silver inlay WESTERN PERSIA; first half of the 13th century. The inscriptions consist of blessings, sometimes in abreviated or garbled form; the main decorative frieze shows representations of the planets in their constellation domicilium.(Used until 11/2003)
Object history
Purchased for £12 from Messrs Sassoon & Co, 10 August 1892

Historical significance: This is a rare model closely related to a specimen in the Muze-ye Iran Bastan at Tehran, and to a lesser degree by a chamfered variant at the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington.
Bibliographic references
  • Melikian-Chirvani, A.S. Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, London:HMSO, 1982, p173-176, ISBN 0 11 290252 9
  • Melikian-Chirvani, A.S. Le Bronze Iranien, pp. 48-51
Collection
Middle East Section
Accession number
775-1892

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Record createdApril 19, 2000
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O38969/candlestick-shamdan-candlestick-unknown/
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