Inkwell with Floral and Animal Imagery
This cylindrical dawat (inkwell) with a domed lid once fit into a metal penbox, where it was secured by a line of soldering along its seam. Inlaid silver forms the primary decoration of floral vines and animals, and engraved and chased floral patterns occupy the background. A piercing in the lid suggests that a ring may have once eased the opening and closing of the inkwell. Referenced in Persian poetry and histories as early as the tenth century, cylindrical inkwells with domed lids were produced in great numbers in twelfth to sixteenth century Iran.
Artwork Details
- Title: Inkwell with Floral and Animal Imagery
- Date: 16th century
- Geography: Attributed to Iran
- Medium: Brass; lid cast, body worked, engraved, and chased, inlaid with silver
- Dimensions: H. 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm)
- Classification: Metal
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1941
- Object Number: 41.120a, b
- Curatorial Department: Islamic Art
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