Smithsonian Metalwork Collection

By Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Arts on October 20, 2011 in Metalwork · 2 Comments

A collection of metalwork (including Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian objects from the 13th century).

The Alhambra Vase | Origin: Spain | Period: late 14th-early 15th century Nasrid period | Details: Mariano Fortuny, the famed textile and costume designer, bought the Freer Vase from a tavern in Granada. The bronze stand, inspired by the Fountain of the Lions at the Alhambra, was designed by Fortuny. The vase is missing its collar, neck, winglike handles, and lustered surface, but is a close cousin to other surviving Alhambra vases, including the vase known as the Alhambra Vase, now in the Museo de la Alhambra in Granada. Its present state only hints at its former appearance, as it must have been among the most magnificent of all of the late Alhambra vases. Its pleasing proportions are accentuated by the placement of an inscription band at its widest point; the contents of the inscription are unique among these vases. This inscription is autonomous, in that, it makes the vase speak in the first person. Like the inscription on the pyxis and other inscriptions that survive in stucco at the Alhambra palace, this one asks the viewer to contemplate the beauty of the object and its setting. Inscriptions : Deer: Good health; Roundels: Good health. Central band: O thou onlooker who art adorned with the splendor of the dwelling / Look at my shape today and contemplate: thou wilt see my excellence / For I appear to be made of silver and my clothing from blossoms / My happiness lies in the hands of he who is my owner, underneath the canopy . | Type: Earthenware painted over glaze | Size: H: 77.2 W: 68.2 cm | Museum Code: F1903.206a-b | Photograph and description taken from Freer and the Sackler (Smithsonian) Museums.

Candlestick | Origin: Afghanistan | Period: ca. 1150-1200 | Details: This monumental candlestick is a tour de force of Persian metalwork technique. Except for a cylindrical piece between the socket and the neck, its form was constructed from a single sheet of brass that was hammered from both the front and the back. The relief decoration was also raised from the back in a technique known as repousse. Details were added to the surface by cutting grooves and recesses into the brass (chasing) and then inlaying them with pieces of copper and silver. The development of this form of surface decoration, which originated in eastern Iran during the twelfth century, was one of the most important technical and artistic achievements of the Seljuq period (1038-1194). It allowed for the transformation of brass vessels into luxury wares, which could then compete with the finest vessels fashioned in gold and silver. | Type: Brass, hammered and chased, inlaid with copper, silver, and black organic material | Size: H: 40.3 W: 47.7 D: 47.7 cm | Museum Code: F1951.17 | Photograph and description taken from Freer and the Sackler (Smithsonian) Museums.

Ewer | Origin: Syria | Period: June-July 1232 Qasim ibn Ali,Ayyubid period | Details: Unlike most thirteenth century metalwares from Syria decorated with figural themes, this large and elegant ewer is only embellished with floral motifs and inscriptions. The unusual choice of decoration may reflect the particular taste of the patron, whose name appears on the ewer. He was Shihab al-Din Tughrul, a Turkish commander who served as regent in Aleppo in northern Syria on behalf of Sultan al-Malik al-Aziz (reigned 1216-37) of the Ayyubid dynasty. The ewer was probably reserved for religious ablution rites for which non-representational decoration was considered more appropriate. | Type: Brass with silver inlay | Size: H: 36.7 W: 21.3 D: 21.3 cm | Museum Code: F1955.22 | Photograph and description taken from Freer and the Sackler (Smithsonian) Museums.

Bowl | Origin: Probably Kashan, Iran | Period: late 12th century | Details: Preoccupation with surface decoration reached new levels of technical sophistication with the use of metal-based “luster” pigmentsÂ—a combination of copper and silverÂ—in twelfth-century Iran. The pigment was applied to the cold body of an already glazed tile or vessel, which was refired in a specially constructed kiln that allowed the metallic oxides to adhere to the vessel. The result was a shimmering lustrous surface rivaling those of gold and silver metal objects. This small bowl, adorned with a human-headed bird, one of the most frequently depicted mythical creatures in medieval Persian art, is characteristic of this exacting technique. | Type: Stone-paste painted over glaze with luster | Size: H: 7.8 W: 17.3 D: 17.3 cm | Museum Code: S1997.113 | Photograph and description taken from Freer and the Sackler (Smithsonian) Museums.

Ewer | Origin: Iran | Period: 9th-10th century Abbasid period | Details: Vibrant metalworking industries in gold, silver, iron, and copper thrived in Basra. Craftsmen there specialized in manufacturing locks, mirrors, and other utensils. This pear-shaped vessel is similar to a bronze ewer that was made in Basra and is now in the Tiblisi Museum in Georgia, near Russia. The inscription around the neck of the Tiblisi ewer gives the craftsman’s name and Basra as its place of manufacture. | Type: Brass | Size: H: 16.5 W: 43.7 cm | Museum Code: F1945.13 | Photograph and description taken from Freer and the Sackler (Smithsonian) Museums.

islamic metalwork from the iranian world

mamluk brass

ottoman knives

18th century art and architecture

Tags: brass, bronze, freer gallery of art, iron, knives, metalwork, sackler gallery of art, smithsonian institution

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About the Author

Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Arts

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The Freer and Sackler galleries have one of the finest collections of Islamic art in the United States, with particular strengths in ceramics and illustrated manuscripts. Highlights of the collection include: * An important collection of ceramics from the 9th–13th century, representing a variety of shapes, techniques, and designs, primarily from Iran and the Arab world. * Egyptian and Syrian metalwork from the 13th century, including two of the most important examples decorated with Christian imagery. * A collection of 9th–19th-century Korans (intact volumes and detached folios) from Iran, the Arab world, and Turkey. * 14th-century Syrian glass. * A distinguished collection of illustrated and illuminated manuscripts from Iran and the Arab world, including the Divan (Collected poems) of Sultan Ahmad Jalayir, ca. 1400; Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones) by Jami, dated 1556–66; and the largest number of illustrations from the 14th-century Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings), one of the most important illustrated texts of the Islamic world. * Some one-hundred 19th-century Central Asia ikats from the Guido Goldman Collection. The Smithsonian Institution has two museums of Asian art: the Freer Gallery of Art which opened to the public in 1923, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which welcomed its first visitors in 1987. Both are physically connected by an underground passageway, and ideologically linked through the study, exhibition, and sheer love of Asian art. In addition, the Freer Gallery contains an important collection of 19th century American art punctuated by James McNeill Whistler's Peacock Room, perhaps one of the earliest (and certainly one of the most controversial) art installations on record. Each building has its own aesthetic: the Freer is designed in a classical style whose architectural nexus is a courtyard that used to house live peacocks in the museum's early days. It was Charles Lang Freer's goal to facilitate the appreciation of world cultures through art, a noble undertaking as important today as it was more than a century ago, when he first willed his artwork and archives to the nation.

2 total comments on this postSubmit yours

Ebrahimi

January 21, 2012

Thank s for your image from Islamic Metalwork.
I m M. A. archaeologist student from university of Tehran…
Would you please send for me more information and image of metalwork bowl from Fars by Museum Code: F1949.11 and Museum Code: F1980.25.

THANKS
Ebrahimi Qader

badran ghosn

June 2, 2012

glad to see this important collection of calligraphy art on brass and silver etc….

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Islamic Patterns: An Analytical and Cosmological Approach

Smithsonian Metalwork Collection

Smithsonian Museum’s Folio & Manuscript Collection

Earthenware, Ceramics and Tiles at the Smithsonian Museum

LACMA Collection of Islamic Calligraphy

About the Author

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