23 avril 2008
Réservoir de hookah, en céramique siliceuse à décor bleu et blanc sinisant, kendi. Iran, art safavide, seconde moitié du XVIIe s
Réservoir de hookah, en céramique siliceuse à décor bleu et blanc sinisant, rappelant les biberons à boire chinois, kendi. Iran, art safavide, seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle.
Canards dans un paysage et vols d'oiseaux. Pseudo marque chinoise à la base. Ebréchure à l'ouverture et tâche brune. Haut. : 21 cm Estimé : 1 500 / 2 000 €
Pescheteau-Badin Paris. Monnaies Françaises et Etrangères, Art d'Orient, Porcelaines de Chine, Mobilier. Vente du 23 avril 2008
06 avril 2008
A large Kashan lustre pottery bowl - Central Iran, Late 13th or First Half 14th Century
A large Kashan lustre pottery bowl - Central Iran, Late 13th or First Half 14th Century
Rising from short vertical foot through conical sides to slightly inverted vertical band and flat projecting rim, the inside with decoration reserved against a rich lustre ground depicting a moon-faced figure sitting in a garden before a river surrounded by a band of pendant palmettes followed by a band of scrolling foliage, the rim with a row of circular motifs, the exterior with a calligraphic band above a larger band of stylised palmette motifs, repaired breaks, minor areas of restoration. 10 7/8in. (27.9cm.) diam. - Estimate: £35,000-40,000
Notes: The inscription on the exterior reads: al-'izz al-da'im wa al-iqbal al-za'id wa al-nasr al-ghalib wa al-r'ay al-thaqib wa al-farr al-qa'im wa al-jadd al-sa'id wa al-dawla wa al-sa'ada wa al-salama (Perpetual Glory and Increasing Prosperity and Triumphant Victory and Prudent Advice and Perpetual Magnificence and Rising Good-fortune and Wealth and Happiness and Well-being).
This is an unusually clear depiction of a Mongol in a pottery vessel. In the 13th century figures are a very frequent subject for the interior of pottery vessels, both bowls and dishes, but in the 14th century they become increasingly rare. Figures are found on a number of contemporaneous tiles, such as one dated 689/1290-1 that was exhibited in America (Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni, The Legacy of Genghis Khan, New York, 2002, fig.40, p.44). A tile in the British Museum depicting two Mongol figures is dated 739/1338 (Oliver Watson, Persian Lustre Ware, London, 1985, pl.122, p.144). One intriguing question is who this bowl depicts. In miniatures of the period, very few people are depicted nimbate. In the Great Mongol Shahnama the only two figures who are almost always so shown are Bahram Gur and Iskandar (Komaroff and Carboni, op.cit, fig.51, p.53 and fig.182, p.155 for example). In pottery however many more figures are depicted this way, with haloed figures appearing for example even as attendants depicted on tiles (Komaroff and Carboni, op.cit, fig.109, p.98). The present figure is very clearly engaged in a specific activity, possibly fishing; it very much has the spacing and dynamism of the earlier narrative lustre and mina'i bowls, and one cannot but think that he is a specific figure from Iranian legend or history.
The form of this bowl is one that was particularly popular in the larger "Sultanabad" wares. A fine example in the al-Sabah Collection, though substantially smaller than the present bowl, is of exactly the same shape and depicts a standing Mongol figure.
Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds. 8 April 2008. www.christies.com
05 avril 2008
A Sitara from the internal Tawbah door of the Kaaba - Ottoman Turkey, Period of Sultan Mehmet V (r. 1909-1918)
A Sitara from the internal Tawbah door of the Kaaba - Ottoman Turkey, Period of Sultan Mehmet V (r. 1909-1918)
Of rectangular form, comprising the upper half of the full panel, the black silk ground embroidered with heavy and elegant silver thread calligraphy in cartouches backed with silk of alternating red and green, the lowest one giving the name of the Sultan, the borders with stylised paired split palmettes and roundels with flowerheads on green ground, with original green silk lining and attachment loops, tearing and fading of the coloured silk. 81¼ x 63 3/8in. (206.8 x 161cm.) - Estimate: £20,000-30,000
Notes: The four upper panels of inscription are from the Qur'an VI, Sura al-An'am, v.54.
The lower band reads: amara bi-hadhihi al-sitara al-sharifa hadrat mawlana al-a'zam al-sultan muhammad khan al-khamis nasarahu allah amin (His Majesty our Lord, the Most great Sultan Mehmet Khan the Fifth - may God help him. Amen - ordered the making of this noble cover).
Hulya Tezcan has published an example of a similar sitara designed for the internal tawbah door of the Kaaba (Hulya Tezcan, Al-Astar al-Haramayn, Istanbul, 1996, no. 17, p. 64). Another was sold in theses Rooms, 26 April 2005, lot 48. Both were from the period of Sultan Abdulhamid II, the Ottoman Sultan who preceded Mehmet V. The present example, which is notable for its exceptionally fine calligraphy, is the upper half of one of these panels and is similar in all but colour scheme. Unusually, this piece retains its original hanging loops.
Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds. 8 April 2008. 8 King Street, St. James's, London
04 avril 2008
A pair of massive Mamluk revival silver and gold inlaid brass overlaid wooden doors Signed Elias Hatoun, Egypt, 1906 A.D.
A pair of massive Mamluk revival silver and gold inlaid brass overlaid wooden doors Signed Elias Hatoun, Egypt, 1906 A.D.
The doors each with a central panel containing offset rows of alternating large and small geometric rosettes, the larger with pronounced central bosses, above and below panels of silver inlaid calligraphy, the panel below containing a gold inlaid signature, around this a border of scolling arabesques followed by one of around geometric polygonal design, the outer border with interlacing motifs forming hexagons and elongated hexagonal panels, with two door-knockers of openwork arabesques, the wooden reverse with simple geometric panelled design, light losses. Each door 120 x 35in. (314 x 89cm.) (2) - Estimate: £30,000-50,000
Notes: The main inscription panels contain two couplets in Arabic:
qasara 'alayha tahiyya wa salam
khala'at 'alayha jamalaha al-ayyam
innama al-janna dar al-mu'minin
fa-adkhuluha bi-salam aminin
(Benediction and Salutation have fallen short of [its praise]
Time has cast its beauty upon it.
Yet Paradise is the land of believers,
So enter it in peace and security)
The last verse is from the Qur'an, sura al-Hijr (XV), v.46.
The lower left hand panel has a smaller gold inlaid cartouche worked in the lower corner which reads: amal-e bi-mahal Elyas Hatoun 1906.
The World's Columbian Exposition was the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World. The fair had a profound effect on architecture, the arts, Chicago's self image and American industrial optimism. Among the many exhibits one of the most popular amusements was the first ever Ferris wheel, over 250 feet high, invented by George Ferris. The fair was so successful it went on for longer than the organizers had originally planned. It was a fair that made a considerable impact on the Islamic World. A Kirman carpet celebrating it was sold in these Rooms 16 April 2007, lot 33.
As part of the Egyptian pavilion at the fair, a life-size copy of the doors of the mosque of the Sultan al-Zahir Barquq Funerary Complex in Cairo was commissioned. The doors obviously made quite an impression at the fair, and more than one major American institution became interested and in the end purchased a pair. It is known that the dealer who handled the commissions in Cairo was Elias Hatoun, one of the leading merchants of the city, who also had a very good stock of art of considerable antiquity and importance including the small Qur'an written in gold that was sold in these Rooms 23 October 2007, lot 20 which he had sold in 1905.
The present doors are very interesting historically. The small inscription in gold in the lower left hand cartouche identifies clearly that they are the work of Elias Hatoun, together with the date of 1906. This indicates that the reproduction of the doors was a considerable success, with examples still being commissioned 13 years after the first ones appeared at the fair.
They must have involved a considerable workforce. The size of each is massive, and it takes a minimum of four men to lift each one. Each brass element is separately made and then fixed to the wooden door, with all being individually shaped, and all those of any size also being engraved and inlaid with silver. The calligraphy in the large panels is also very fine. The present doors need a little restoration, and would benefit hugely from a careful polish, but after that would look completely magnificent, a true echo of Mamluk magnificence.
Christie's. Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds. 8 April 2008. 8 King Street, St. James's, London www.christies.com
05 mars 2008
PANNEAU PROVENANT DU MINBAR DE L'EMIR QAWSUN, MONTE EN PORTE
PANNEAU PROVENANT DU MINBAR DE L'EMIR QAWSUN, MONTE EN PORTE - LE CAIRE, EGYPTE, VERS 1330, L'ENCADREMENT DE PORTE PAR FULGRAFF (1900)
En bois, ébène et ivoire à décor gravé et incisé, le registre central de forme rectangulaire, composé de polygones à motif d'arabesques, de rinceaux entrelacés et de petites palmettes, encastrés dans des compartiments, formant une structure géométrique tapissante organisée autour d'étoiles à douze branches au centre de douze pointes de polygones, l'ensemble montre des registres alternant les polygones en ivoire avec ceux en bois, deux petites bandes rectangulaires en haut et en bas du panneau central garnis de rubans géométriques avec au centre un hexagone, le panneau monté dans un encadrement postérieur fait par Fulgraff en 1900, quelques restaurations
Dimensions totales: 255,5 x 148 cm. (100¾ x 58¼ in.); dimensions du panneau, registre central: 131 x 66,5 cm. (51¾ x 26 1/8 in.); les frises: 10 x 65 cm. (3 7/8 x 25¾ in. Estimation: 300,000 - 500,000 Euros
Provenance: Répertorié dans le livre de compte de Charles Gillot le 5 septembre 1900 comme acquis auprès de Dikran Khan Kelekian (1868-1951) et décrit comme " porte Arabe XIVème siècle " (5000 Fr avec le lot 45).
Notes: Ce panneau provient d'un des plus importants minbars - ou portes - mamelouks. La complexité du décor géométrique a connu son apogée à cette période avec des compositions de douze voir seize branches. La finesse du décor gravé de chacun des registres sur ce panneau est parmi les plus exceptionnels de la période mamelouke.
Le registre central est très similaire par son agencement géométrique et la décoration de ses bordures aux panneaux du minbar de l'émir Qawsun, voir: E. Prisse d'Avennes, Arab Art, Londres, 1983, édition, pl. 85,86 et 88. Ce minbar fut conçut pour sa mosquée, construite en 730H./1329-30. Les recherches et illustrations réalisées en 1860 par Prisse d'Avennes relatent que, malgré l'état préoccupant de la mosquée à cette époque, le minbar était encore en place (op. cit. p. 107). L'extérieur était complètement peint et redoré, " nuisant à la délicatesse du décor gravé ". Néanmoins, l'intérieur fut préservé, permettant à Prisse d'Avennes de le reproduire fidèlement. Il semble qu'entre 1870 et 1900 ce minbar ait été démonté, certains de ses plus beaux éléments ayant servi pour la composition de notre panneau. Les portes, considérées comme provenant du minbar de l'Emir Qawsun, figuraient dans la collection du fondateur de Tiffany, Edward C. Moore III, et sont aujourd'hui conservées, suite à une donation de 1891, au Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York (inv. n. 91.1.2064). D'autres éléments de panneaux ont été préservés tels que le lot 40 dans notre vente, qui provient probablement du même original, ou les deux exemplaires présentés en vente chez Christie's, Islamic Art and Manuscripts, Londres, 10 octobre 2000, lot 309. Il ne subsite aujourd'hui de la mosquée que le passage principal et une partie du mur q'ibla.
Alors que l'encadrement a certainement été peint, les éléments encastrés semblent avoir gardé leur surface naturelle d'origine. Les artisans ont employé une grande variété de bois, incluant même un bois aussi rare que l'ébène, permettant ainsi de contraster les couleurs et les formes. Un de ces éléments en ébène a été illustré par Prisse d'Avennes, montrant clairement la complexité du décor de rinceaux ; cependant, l'illustration n'indique pas les nuances de couleurs des différents bois (op. cit, pl. LXXXV, élément supérieur).
La meilleure illustration du montage d'origine de ce panneau se trouve sur le minbar mamelouk dans la première mosquée fatimide du vizir al-Salih Tala'i. L'inscription au dessus de la porte indique une réalisation par l'émir Baktimur al-Jukandar en 1299. Le décor gravé de rinceaux et d'arabesques sur chacun des éléments ainsi que le travail sur les registres en bordure sont très proches de ceux de notre panneau. Tous deux incluent de très fins éléments d'ivoire destinés à mettre en valeur la composition de l'oeuvre.
Christie's Paris. Ancienne Collection Charles Gillot (1853-1903) . 4-5 mars 2008