An Islamic mortar - image-1
An Islamic mortar - image-2
An Islamic mortar - image-3
An Islamic mortar - image-1An Islamic mortar - image-2An Islamic mortar - image-3

Lot 511 Dα

An Islamic mortar

Auction 1196 - overview Cologne
20.05.2022, 10:00 - Decorative Arts incl. Highly Important Mortars the Schwarzach Collection Part IV.
Estimate: 1.000 € - 1.500 €
Result: 3.000 € (incl. premium)

An Islamic mortar

Reddish gold cast bronze with engravings and copper damascene. With remnants of red pigment and some verdigris. With protruding rim and base. Decorated with three bands of horizontal mouldings, calligraphy and raised teardrop motifs. The base with a star of David in relief. H 18.5, W 24.5 cm, weight c. 7.7 kg.
Khorasan, 12th C.

We would like to thank Dr. Verena Daiber (researcher on Islamic art history and Arab studies and curator or the Bumiller Art Foundation in Bamberg) for her kind help in dating this piece.

Literature

An identical mortar in the Kabul Museum illus. in Melikian-Chirvani, Metalwork from the Iranian World, 1982, p. 68f. illus. 36.
Cf. Launert, Der Mörser, Munich 1990, p. 47.
Cf. Victoria and Albert Museum London, acc. no. 948-1886.