A prominent object of Persian metalwork forms part of the Kunstkammer (Collection of plastic art) of the Kunsthistorische Museum. It came from the collections of Ferdinand II of Tyrol (1529-95). The onion-shaped bowl and its cover is made of bronze and the object impresses because of its unusual décor of fluted rhomboids and triangles which dominate the overall appearance.

The lower rim of the cover as well as the upper rim of the bowl show a border of oblong cartouches filled with inscriptions which alternate with small quatrefoils; it is lined by a margin showing tendril-shaped ornaments. At the broadest part of the bowl where the rhomboids meet, more cartouches with writing can be seen.

The signature of the craftsman Shazi appears twice, on the bowl and on the cover. A. Souren Melikian-Chirvani identified the inscriptions along the rim of the bowl as verses from the poet Helâli and that of the central part of the bowl and of the cover as verses of poet Halaki, both were active at Herat in the early sixteenth century The bowl is thus most likely from Herat and was produced after 1500, a time when the Safavids were about to conquer Iran. This gives us the opportunity to date and place an object of metal art with high accuracy.

The fluted rhomboids enclose rhomboid and triangular fields containing a leafy ornament with a blossom in the centre, often identified as a lotus blossom. This is a popular Persian motif. On the Viennese bowl, it takes an angular form because of the general design. On other Persian metal objects this kind of lotus blossom surrounded by leafy ornaments appears more typically in a medallion shape and forms the dominant element of the overall appearance.

The design of the bowl makes it a rare object, and an outstanding specimen of Persian metal work. Melikian-Chirvani has called it as a “key piece” to the study of the Herat School in the early sixteenth century.

Note by the translation team:
The Persian inscription on the bowl is given here in the original and in English translation. Vienna University wishes to thank Dr. Ahmed Mousawi, a literary expert from Teheran, who kindly corrected the translation and confirmed the authors, and Dr. Ziaeddin Ziaie who provided a German translation for further reference.

The poem of the bowl

Thou who serveth wine come to the tulip garden
Since the tulips have opened
And bring me tulip red wine as spring has come
Fine dew covers the tulip petals in the dawn
Huge pearls – the colour of blood
The tulips have eternally whispered on the river bank
Fill my goblet so that the tulips may grow like goblets on the bank
My heart bleeds eternally like red tulips
For, look, fate burns me as it does in the tulip garden

Thou who serveth wine must never part with the goblet
Neither by day nor by night
For the sun never pauses by day nor the moon by night
Pass me the goblet in times when temptation leads us astray
That thou mayest imagine the temptation of the wicked world
My beloved sees her face reflected in wine
Her image, though, is the source of the sun reflected in the goblet
Pass me the goblet, do not care for my good name
For, why need I have a good name
Once my reputation gone?


 

Based on German text by Ursula Haider

Bibliography:

Allan, James W., Metalwork of the Islamic world, London 1986.
Atil, Esil, u. A., Islamic Metalwork in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington 1985.
Die Welt des Orients, Kunst und Kultur des Islam, Ausstellungskatalog, Leoben 2007.
Fehérvári, Géza, Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth century in the Keir Collection, London 1976.
Melikian-Chirvani A. S., Islamic Metalwork from the Iranian World, 8th – 18th Centuries, London 1982.
Ward, Rachel, Islamic Metalwork, London 1993.