EGYPT, SECOND HALF 10TH CENTURY

There are around 180 rock crystal carvings that were made in the Islamic World between the eighth and eleventh centuries. Of these, a few, mostly personal ornaments, have been attributed to Persia where there was undoubtedly a well-established tradition of carving in crystal. The greatest number, however, were made in Mesopotamia and Egypt. In the second half of the 10th century, in Egypt, a country with an ancient tradition of hardstone carving, the craft of crystal carving in relief was fully realised. Until then, the predominant style of carving was the so-called bevelled technique in which the decorative elements were separated one from the other by slanting cuts so that compositions were linear with no background. For an example of this earlier type see Kurt Erdmann's 'Neue Islamische Bergkristalle', Ars Orientalis III, 1959, pp.200-205, no.4. Our bottle with its repeated palmettes issuing from raised scrolls is very similar to a bottle published by Erdmann (1959, chapter no.1). Notably both our present bottle and that published by Erdmann have raised collars which flank the central decorative panel.

Many of these small ampullae came to Europe in the middle ages and were used as reliquaries in churches. Examples can be found in the treasuries of the cathedral of Halberstadt and in the Stiftskirchengemeinde in Bad-Gandersheim (Europa und der Orient, exhibition catalogue, Berlin, 1989, no, pl.636). Another closely related flask is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Contadini, 1998, pl.4). A Fatimid bottle also dated to the second half of the 10th century was sold in these Rooms, 7 April 2011, lot 82.