NORTH EAST IRAN, 10TH/11TH CENTURY

The broad silhouette of our lampstand - with a hexagonal shaft with rounded openwork bosses above and below, and a domed tripod base - is very similar to an example sold in these Rooms, 8 April 2008, lot 80, and another sold the previous year, Sotheby's London, 24 October 2007, lot 99. Unlike those, our example stands upon a tripod base with double-stepped 'feet', shaped to resemble an animal's forequarters. Although they are appear to be hooved, somewhat incongruously we may assume them to be lions: the designers of zoomorphic Khorassan incense burners, such as an example sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2023, lot 20, were not unduly concerned with biological accuracy when it came to their subjects. This is strengthened by the fact that a later hand has engraved a lion's face onto their chests. That same hand has also engraved the protruding fleurons between the feet with the features of seated figures. A base of similar form is in the Khalili Collection (MTW 751, Michael Spink, Brasses, Bronzes and Silvers of the Islamic Lands: Part Two, London, 2022, p.546, no.418). An example in the same collection with a similar shaft is in the same collection (MTW 1080, Spink, op.cit., p.539, no.411).

Our lampstand also complete with a five-wick lamp. Another example with a similar openwork base and dome on the top is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (acc.no.EA1983.27). A further example with three wicks, but also preserving a handle with a bird finial, is part of the Khalili Collection (acc.no. MTW 75, Spink, op. cit., p.565, no.432), along with a circular plaque which has similar kufic openwork around the rim (acc.no. MTW 1253, Spink, op.cit., p.577, no.452). A similar oil lamp was sold in these Rooms, 11 April 2000, lot 261.