An Islamic mortar Reddish gold cast bronze... Lot 511

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.