This kashkul, or sufi begging bowl, is made from a section of coco-de-mer shell, covered with a silver frame. The nutshell of the coco-de-mer palm is native to islands in the Indian Ocean; such shells probably washed up on the southern shores of Iran. While Sufis disavow most material objects, the kashkul is one of the very few items that a dervish would keep on his person. This example could have functioned as a vessel for collecting alms, or a container for holding food and drink. An empty kashkul can also be interpreted as a metaphor for the voiding of the ego, which is required of a dervish before he can nourish himself with divine knowledge. Though such objects were originally created to be functional, later examples, such as this one, were fabricated and collected solely for their aesthetic merit.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Begging Bowl
Maker:Yar Muhammad
Date:dated 1130 AH/1717–18 CE
Geography:Attributed to Iran
Medium:Coco-de-mer shell, silver and gilded silver; pierced and engraved
Dimensions:[Not including chain] H. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm) W. 12 1/8 in. (30.8 cm) D. 6 9/16 in. (16.7 cm) Wt. 31.1 oz. (881.8 cm)
Classification:Metal
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1909
Object Number:09.202.2
Beggar’s Bowl (kashkul)
The kashkul, or beggar’s bowl, is the most emblematic accoutrement of the wandering dervish. This typically boat-shaped vessel was made from a variety of media, including coco-de-mer shell, wood, metal, and ceramic. Dervishes used them primarily to collect and store alms (their main source of sustenance) and occasionally as drinking vessels. Pictorial representations of dervishes often depict them with a kashkul and sometimes with a cudgel (mantasha), to defend themselves against animal attacks, an ax (tabarzin), and a conical woolen cap.[1]
Made of coco-de-mer shell (one half of the shell of a Seychelles nut), the body of this kashkul is completely uncarved. The only decorative element is the silver frame around the rim, which partially covers the top and contains an inscription in fine naskhi script, a prayer to the Fourteen Infallibles (The Prophet Muhammad, Fatima, and the Twelve Shi‘i Imams), whom Twelvers Shi‘is believe are infallible, that is, "divinely bestowed with freedom from error and sin." A second inscription encourages the owner of the kashkul to drink in memory of the thirsty Husain, who fought his foes in the arid desert of Kerbala with no source of water in sight — an act that Twelver Shi‘is consider the ultimate in sacrifice and devotion.[2]
The inscription was skillfully pierced into silver and then placed on a gilt-silver ground in order to create a striking contrast. The date on the metal frame at the top was altered to read A.H. 1230, but close examination reveals that it was originally A.H. 1130, which corresponds to 1717–18 A.D. Stylistic comparisons with earlier (late seventeenth to eighteenth century) manuscipt and album illumination, with metalwork such as ‘alam elements and implements and engraved silver bowls, and with arms and armor confirm the earlier dating.[3] Since Qajar kashkuls do not typically include metal frames and are often intricately carved with figures of dervishes, animals, vegetal designs, and inscriptions, it is unlikely that this kashkul was produced during that period. Inscribed with the names of the maker, Yar Muhammad, and the owner, ‘Abbas al-Husaini, the Metropolitan example is among the earliest known dated and signed kashkuls.[4] A double-chain of flat rings, original to the piece and used to suspend it, is fastened by two large rings at either end.
Boat-shaped drinking vessels have a long history in Iran.[5] Although the earliest extant examples of kashkuls date to the fourteenth century, they continued to be produced through the nineteenth century in Iran, Central Asia, and India. Many were probably marketed as decorative objects, since a devoted dervish would be highly unlikely to carry an elaborately carved kashkul. Such an object would obviously contradict his belief in the renunciation of worldly goods in favor of unconditional devotion to the Divine.
The kashkul has a number of metaphorical associations. As a symbol of the sufi quest for union with the Divine, it represents the cleansing of a sufi’s soul of all extraneous earthly desires in preparation for the acceptance of divine love. Dervishes subsisted solely on offerings given to them by pious Muslims and thus associated the kashkul with their life of poverty. This example, recently cleaned and prepared for exhibition, is unique in its decorative features and in the extraordinarily sophisticated execution of its metal frame.
Maryam Ekhtiar in [Ekhtiar, Soucek, Canby, and Haidar 2011]
Footnotes:
1. Diba, Layla S. and Maryam Ekhtiar, Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785–1925. London: I. B Tauris in asociation with Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1998, pp. 259–60.
2. Akbarnia, Ladan and Francesca Leoni, Light of the Sufis. Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, 2010, pp. 26–27.
3. Allan, James and Brian Gilmour, Persian Steel: The Tanavoli Collection. Oxford Studies in Islamic Art, 15, Oxford 2000, B22, fig. 41, pl. E3, figs. 14a, b.
4. Akbarnia and Leoni 2010 (note 2), p. 26.
5. Melikian-Chirvani, A[ssadullah] S[ouren]. "From the Royal Boat to the Beggar’s Bowl." Islamic Art 4 (1990–91), pp. 3–111, pl. 1. See also Akbarnia and Leoni 2010 (note 2), p. 26.
Kashkul, or Begging Bowl
Kashkuls carried the donations on which dervishes relied for sustenance and also functioned as drinking vessels or food containers for wandering ascetics, who could often be found carrying a wooden spoon for this purpose as well. These begging bowls simultaneously symbolized the emptying of the Sufi's soul or ego (nafs), through the renunciation of wordly goods and aspirations, and the nourishment of that soul with divine knowledge resulting from the constant contemplation of God.
Kashkuls were produced in a variety of media, including metal, ceramic, wood, and coco-de-mer shell, and were held or hung from the shoulder by metal chains. The earliest examples date to the thirteenth or fourteenth century, but their form may have been derived from crescent- and boat-shaped wine bowls made in pre-Islamic Iran. Certain silver wine boats from the Sasanian period, for example, symbolized wine flowing from a mountain or pool, while others evoked the "vault of heaven" illuminated by sunlight.[32] In the Islamic period, the shape came to represent the boat that the Sufi's soul needed to cross the "sea of sorrow" (representing the material world) in order to reach the notion of God.[33] Sometimes the medium from which the kashkul was made carries special significance, as in the case of this one. and another from the Brooklyn Museum (no. 47.203.5). Both were created from half of the nutshell of the coco-de-mer palm (Lodoicea seczellarum) native to the islands of the Indian Ocean. The shells probably ended up in Iran when they were washed up on the southern shores of the country, their lengthy sea voyage becoming a metaphor for the Sufi's mystical journey. They were therefore a particularly appropriate medium for a beggar's bowl.
Many kashkuls include inscriptions invoking God, the house of the prophet Muhammad, or the twelve Shi'a imams, as well as treasured Qur'anic verses or mystical poetry. This one contains a prayer in naskh script around the rim of the bowl invoking blessings on the prophet, his daughter Fatima, and the twelve imams. The name of the object's owner, 'Abbas Sahib al-Hasani, is identified within the medallion. A signature by the artist, a certain Yar ("friend of") Muhammad, appears below the medallion, along with the Islamic calendar year 1130, which corresponds to 1717 CE. This information, supported by stylistic connections to the late Safavid period, makes this beggar's bowl one of the earliest known dated kashkuls.
Ladan Akbarnia in [Akbarnia and Leoni 2010]
Footnotes:
32. Melikian-Chirvani, A.S., "From the Royal Boat to the Beggar’s Bowl," Islamic Art, 4, 1990–91, pp. 14–16.
33. Ibid., p. 32.
Signature: The work of Yar Muhammad [in the] year 1130 AH/1717–18 CE
Inscription: Around rim, in Arabic in naskhi script, [Prayer to the Fourteen Infallibles]:
اللهم صل علی النبي المصطفی و المرتضی و البتول فاطمة سیدین سبطین و الحسن
و الحسین و صل علی زین العباد الباقر محمد الصادق جعفر و الکاظم موسی و
الرضا و علی التقي محمد و النقي الحسن العسکري الهادي المهدي صلوات الله و
سلامه علیه اجمعین
O God, may thy grace descend upon the Prophet (the Chosen One and the one
with whom He is most pleased) and the Lady Fatima and the two offspring,
al-Hasan and al-Husain. May God’s grace descend upon Zain al-‘Abid[in]
Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja‘far al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim, and ‘Ali al-Rida and
Muhammad al-Taqi al-Hasan al-‘Askari al-Hadi al-Mahdi — May God’s prayers
and peace be upon them all.
On silver frame covering opening on left, in Persian:
بنوش آب بیاد لب تشنه حسین
Drink water in memory of Husain’s thirsty lips
صاحبه عباس الحسینى
Owned by ‘Abbas al-Husaini
عمل یار محمد في سنة ۱۱۳۰
The work of Yar Muhammad [in the] year 1130 AH/1717–18 CE
[ Mallett & Son, Bath, England, until 1909; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Rumi and the Sufi Tradition," October 23, 2007–February 3, 2008, no catalogue.
New York. Brooklyn Museum. "Light of the Sufis : an introduction to the mystical arts of Islam," June 5, 2009–September 6, 2009, no. 7.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Light of the Sufis : an introduction to the mystical arts of Islam," May 16, 2010–August 8, 2010, no. 7.
Allan, James, and Brian Gilmour. Persian Steel: The Tanavoli Collection. Oxford, 2000. ill. pl. B22, fig. 41, pl. E3, figs. 14a, b.
Akbarnia, Ladan, and Francesca Leoni. "The Mystical Arts of Islam." In Light of the Sufis. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2010. no. 7, pp. 26–27, ill. p. 27 (color).
Ekhtiar, Maryam, Priscilla P. Soucek, Sheila R. Canby, and Navina Haidar, ed. Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. no. 167, pp. 242–43, ill. (color).
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