Candlestick
ca. 1250 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
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.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Bronze, cast and turned on a lathe, engraved and inlaid with black composition |
| Brief description | Bronze candlestick with inlaid decoration, south-east Turkey (probably Siirt), ca. 1250. |
| 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. |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Object history | Salting bequest, 23 December 1909. |
| Production | One of a group of candlesticks attributed to the Sultanate of Rum, which had its capital at Konya (Turkey) and dependencies in Armenia. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | 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. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.711-1910 |
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| Record created | October 24, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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