TURKEY, 18TH CENTURY

A pair of tombak ewers exhibited in the Kyburg Gallery, London, in 1988 are of exactly the same shape as ours and are decorated with very similar decoration composed of acanthus leaves and floral sprays. Both of those ewers retained their chains linking the screwed stoppers and lids to the bodies. This type of ewer was supposedly made to bring back holy water from the well of zam zam after a pilgrimage to Mecca (E. Grünberg & E. M. Torn, Four Centuries of Ottoman Taste, London, 1988, cat.40). Another comparable ewer is in the Aron Collection (James W. Allan, Metalwork of the Islamic World, pp.114-115, cat.24). With another ewer of related form sold in these Rooms, 23rd April 2015, lot 190, they are all very good examples of the Ottoman baroque style which starts developing during the reign of Ahmed III (r.1703-1730).